Chasing Pavements
by Cheap Trixie
Summary: Juice is beyond excited. His little sister, Lilli, is coming to spend the summer in Charming with him. At first things are great, and its though nothing has changed between them. But as the summer wears on, Juice realizes that Lilli isn't the little girl he left behind 12 yrs ago, but a grown woman. So how will he feel when she begins to fall for a member of the club? Chibs/OC
1. Chapter One

**Authors Notes: This is my first attempt at an SOA story and I'm kinda nervous about it. I hope it turns out like I'm planning (because stories and characters have a funny way of NOT doing what I want them to do!) and that you all (I'm assuming SOMEONE is reading this) enjoy it. Love it, hate it, either way, let me know in a review! I'm starting this out at a T rating, but I'll probably jack it up to an M further along, just so you're warned!**

**Disclaimer: The lovely town of Charming and its occupants belong to Kurt Sutter. I'm not him, I'm just a poor, single, mid-Western mom with no life who enjoys writing. Please don't sue me! Any songs, movies, TV shows, ect. that you recognize also do not belong to me.**

* * *

_I've made up my mind_

_Don't need to think it over_

_If I'm wrong, I am right_

_Don't need to look no further_

_This ain't lust_

_I know this is love_

_But if I tell the world_

_I'll never say enough_

_'Cause it was not said to you_

_And that's exactly what I need to do_

_If I'm in love with you_

_Should I give up_

_Or should I just keep chasing pavements?_

_Even if it gets me nowhere_

_Or would it be a waste?_

_Even if I knew my place, should I leave it there?_

_Should I give up_

_Or should I just keep chasing pavements?_

_Even if it leads me nowhere_

_-Adele_

* * *

"It's too goddamned early for you to be_ this_ excited." Chibs Telford looked at his friend and roommate Juice Ortiz, over the rim of his coffee mug.

Juice was practically bouncing on the balls of his feet. "Lilli's coming today." He said.

Chibs sighed. "I know. You've spoke of nothing else for weeks."

Juice stopped bouncing. "Is it so wrong for a man to be excited about seeing his baby sister?"

Chibs shook his head. "Nope. I'd be excited to see my little sister. Of course, my little sister's been dead for nearly twenty years, so I'd also be scared shitless."

Juice rolled his eyes. "Not funny, man."

Chibs shrugged and went back to his coffee. Okay, so maybe it wasn't funny, making dead sister jokes, but Jesus H. Christ, it wasn't even 7:30. The kid needed to calm the fuck down and Chibs needed another cup of coffee.

Juice supposed he should've been offended, but he was used to Chibs by now. Even in the best of times, his sense of humor was…well, dark. But Juice didn't even let his friend's pessimistic attitude dampen his spirits, because today his baby sister was coming.

Technically, Juice supposed Lilli was his half-sister. They had the same mother, different fathers. Hector Ortiz had adopted Juice though, when he was only three-years-old, after he married his mother. He was the only man Juice had known as a father, the only man he'd ever called Dad.

There were eight years between Juice and Lilli. He was the oldest and she was the baby. There was a set of twins, Catalina and Lolita, between them, but Lilli had always been the sister he was closest to. He hadn't seen her in awhile; he tried to make it back to New York at least once a year, but things had been hectic lately. And it was even harder for him to visit with her after she started college in Mississippi.

But now, after all this time, Lilli was coming to spend the summer with him in Charming. Juice also had a secret agenda behind this three month visit, one he hadn't told anyone else, not even Chibs. He was hoping to convince Lilli to stay in Charming, to transfer schools and move here permanently. He didn't know if she'd go for it, but he was going to try like hell.

Currently she had just finished up her B.A. in Psychology at Ole Miss, but he knew that would be easy for her transfer to USC or Pacific to get her Masters. He thought of how nice it would be to have her around all the time.

"You ready to go?" Chibs broke into his thoughts as he came back into the kitchen, pulling his cut on over his t-shirt. "If we're late again, Gemma's gonna skin some ass, and yours is a lot younger than mine."

"Right." Juice nodded, barely suppressing the urge to roll his eyes.

* * *

Roughly two hundred miles away, Lilliana Ortiz was pulling her orange VW Bug out of the Super 8 parking lot and heading back for the interstate.

Her brother had been worried about her driving the 32 hour trip from Southern Mississippi to Northern California alone, but she had looked forward to it. Only her, the radio, and the open road. It had been a lot of fun and she was kind of sad it was almost over. But she was excited to see JC again. It had been too long since she last saw her big brother. She loved her sisters, but Lina and Lita had that special twin bond no one else could break through, so that had left her and JC. He'd made something of a pet out of her to be honest, spoiled her rotten. Then he'd joined the army when she was ten and after his tour was up, he'd moved to California. She'd only seen him a handful of times since then, and knew next to nothing about his life. It would be nice to get to know him again.

Lilli popped a Miranda Lambert cd into her player, cranked it up loud, and continued her trek.

* * *

It was going on 11:00 when the tiny, noisy Bug pulled into Teller-Morrow. Chibs looked up as the thing, painted a hideous shade of neon orange, rattled to a stop. At first he assumed it was a customer, Lord only knew that thing needed a helluva tune-up, but when Juice pushed passed him and ran to the car, he realized it was the sister.

She was smaller than he expected, was his first thought. All he could see of her was a short, curvy girl. Juice had her swept up in a hug that lifted her from the ground. The two of them were talking so fast to one another, their voices overlapped and all work around the shop came to halt as Juice led his kid sister, the girl he never shut up about, into the garage.

When she came closer, and Chibs got his first good look at her, he felt his breath hitch, only for a second. Something about her willowy frame had reminded him of Fiona when she was young, when he had first met her. But he blinked and it was gone; this girl looked nothing like Fi and he felt stupid for comparing the two of them.

Her hair was long and wavy; it hung to her shoulder blades, the exact brown of melted chocolate. When he looked into her face, he could immediately see the resemblance to Juice. Their eyes were the same shape and color, and she had that same infectious smile, the one that made you wanna just smile too. Of course, Chibs reminded himself, he'd never scrutinized Juice like this, like he was doing Lilli. He stood and tried to slap a friendly look on his face as Juice led the girl over to him.

"This is Chibs." He said. "My baby sister, Lilli."

"Hi." She smiled that wide smile and he felt that weird breath hitch again.

"Hullo." He held out his hand and she shook it, her small fingers disappearing inside his large ones. "I've heard a lot about you."

"Likewise." She smiled again and her eyes flitted the scars on his cheeks. After fourteen years, Chibs was used to this being the first thing everyone noticed about him and he didn't mind anymore. It gave him distinction in Charming, the scarred Scot.

"I can't believe that car made it all the way here." Juice said, pulling Lilli away. She smiled apologetically at Chibs over her shoulder before answering.

"I know I did _not _just hear you down Super Shitty." She said. "That car is the coolest thing ever and you're just jealous because its mine."

"Yep," Juice nodded his head. "That's it exactly."

"Super Shitty?" Jax, who had been bent over an engine, looked up. "You really named your car Super Shitty?"

"It's fitting." Juice said. "Ow!" He rubbed his shoulder where his sister had socked him.

He finished introducing her around and when Clay gave him the rest of the day off to get his sister settled in, the two of them left, Lilli tossing her brother her car keys. Chibs watched as it rattled away.

"Man," Tig came up beside him. "You get to spend the entire summer living with that."

"What?"

"That Chica is _hot_." He said.

"Dude, that's Juice's sister." Opie poked his head around the side of a bike. "You can't sleep with Juice's sister." Chibs fully agreed, though silently.

"Why not?" Tig demanded.

"Because it's just like, etiquette." Opie shrugged, ducking back around the side of the bike.

"Oh what, now you're the Miss Manners of the club?" Tig asked. Opie shrugged.

"All, I'm saying is that if you tried to hit on _my_ little sister, I'd kill you." He said.

"You don't have a little sister." Jax reminded him. Ope rolled his eyes.

"Well, you know, if I did." The big man shrugged again. "You just don't do it."

And that, Chibs thought to himself, was that.


	2. Chapter Two

**Author's Notes: A very, VERY big thank you to all the reviews, favorites, and followers I've recieved so far!**

* * *

Chibs had always reckoned that he knew Juice fairly well. They'd shared a house for three years and had known each other for another five beyond that. He knew that Juice's favorite color was blue, that he could put away three Big Mac's without blinking an eye, and that he could recite pretty much any 80's teen movie line for line. But in the week since Lilli had arrived, Chibs was finding out things about Juice he never knew. Little things, like that he had played baseball in high school, or that he knew every Offspring song by heart. It was interesting, Chibs thought on a Friday morning as he prepared for work, the things you didn't know about those closest to you.

Another thing was that Chibs was having trouble adjusting to living in the same house as a female again. He hadn't lived with a woman since Fiona. Come to think of it, Fiona was the _only_ woman he'd _ever_ lived with. Chibs liked Lilli, she was as open and friendly as her brother, but it was weird having her around all the time. Suddenly, there were tampons under the sink in the bathroom, girly soaps in the shower, Dawson's Creek reruns on the telly.

Okay, so Dawson's Creek wasn't _that_ bad.

In fact, Chibs found himself humming the theme song to himself as he half stumbled towards the kitchen on this particular morning. When he got there, he wasn't at all surprised to find Lilli sitting at the table in her pajamas, the ones that had that stupid Japanese cat on them, what was her name, Hey Kitty or something? Lilli was eating a bowl of Cap'n Crunch, her laptop open in front of her. Chibs could see the Facebook logo from where he stood. He didn't buy into the social networking bullshit, but he knew that Kerrianne was big into it. In fact, when she had been to visit for his birthday in March, she was checking her page what seemed like every five minutes.

It was odd, he thought as he poured himself a mug of coffee and sat across from Lilli at the table, that Kerrianne was the one who finally got him to let go of Fiona and file for divorce. She came to visit a couple of times a year now, his daughter, and when she'd been there the previous August she'd flat out asked him.

"Why're you and Mom still married?"

He'd looked at her, his beautiful daughter, who was only fourteen-years-old and found himself telling her the truth.

"Because I still love you mother." He'd answered simply. "And I've always hoped we could work things out."

Kerrianne had wrinkled her brow. "But Da…Jimmy's been gone for over a year and you're still not back together. Mom won't leave Ireland and you won't leave Charming. How can that ever work? And besides," She shook her head. "I know that Jimmy stole her from you, but it's not like he kidnapped her or something. She chose to stay with him."

That had kind of hit home with Chibs and after Kerrianne had returned to Ireland, he went to see Rosen and had him draw up the papers. He was finally filing for divorce.

"Who's Kerrianne?"

Chibs head jerked up, out of his thoughts, at the sound of Lilli's voice. What, could she read bloody minds or something? "What?"

She reached out and ran her fingers across the named tattooed on his bare chest. The feel of her fingers on his skin gave him the shivers. "Who's Kerrianne?" She repeated.

"Oh…oh, she's my daughter." He answered.

Lilli shut her laptop. "I didn't know you had a daughter." She said. "How old is she?"

"She's nearly fifteen." He said and Lilli blinked.

"You don't look old enough to have a teenager." She told him, smiling. "How old _are _you, Chibs?"

"Thirty-eight." He answered tightly, lighting a smoke. He was closing in on forty and he hated that fact.

"Oh," Lilli rested her chin in her hand and looked at him. "I'm twenty-two."

"I know." He said and she raised her eyebrows. "Juicy Boy, he never shut up about you."

She shook her head, tugging on the ends of her hair. "It's weird, you know so much about me, but I don't hardly know anything about you."

He shrugged, what could he say to that. "Is there something you wanna know about me?"

She tilted her head to the side. "What's your real name, Chibs?"

He smirked. "It's Filip." He told her. "With an F."

"Filip with an F." She nodded. "Cool. You got a middle name?"

He raised his brows. "Benjamin."

"Filip Benjamin Telford." She nodded again. "That's a good name." She shrugged. "I'm kind of a name nerd."

"I noticed." He looked at her in her pink and white pajamas, her shiny hair hanging around her pretty face. "What about you then, what's your middle name?"

"Rose." She answered. "My full name is Lilliana Rose Ortiz."

He barked out a laugh in spite of himself. "It's…a very _flowery_ name."

She sighed. "It's awful. Sounds like something out of a soap opera." And he laughed again.

"No, its pretty." He said. "It suits you well."

She blushed and looked down and Chibs realized he was _flirting_ with her. When was the last time he had actually just flirted with a lass? It had been a long time. There were crow eaters, sure, but they were just good for a quick fuck, nothing serious. Lilli was better than that.

"So, what're you up to today?" He asked. She looked up at him and waggled her brows.

"Same thing I do everyday, Pinky. Try to take over the world!"

He blinked. "Excuse me?"

Her face reddened again when he didn't understand. "It was a joke…" She explained lamely. "From Pinky and the Brain…the cartoon…?"

He shrugged. "I have no fucking clue what you're on about." He said evenly.

She just grinned. "Its cool; most people don't. Seriously, I was actually hoping to bum a ride off of you to the garage. I wanna talk to Gemma."

Chibs nodded. "Yeah, I can give you a ride." He looked at the clock. "How soon can you be ready?"

"Give me ten minutes."

He shook his head, doubtful she could be ready in ten minutes, but she proved him wrong. Exactly ten minutes later, she was back in the kitchen, dressed and ready to go. He took in her flared jeans and a black tank top that said 'The Pogues' in red script. Her hair was back in a ponytail.

"You know The Pogues?" He asked, surprised. Not a lot of American's his _own _age knew of the Irish punk band, let alone kids nearly twenty years younger.

She looked down at her shirt. "Yeah, I love them…you know their music?" She seemed equally surprised.

He waved his hand at her. "I grew up in Ireland in the 80's, love. Of course I know The Pogues!"

She chuckled. "I suppose you would."

He looked at her face and he shrugged his cut on. "What I want to know is why you're wearing makeup to a car garage."

She grinned; it seemed like she was always smiling, but he liked it. "Are you kidding? That place is a hotbed of male activity. How can I hope to catch myself a man if I'm not gussied up?"

"Uh…?"

"I'm kidding!" She pushed his arm. "God, you really need to learn to recognize a joke, dude. For reals."

"You've a weird sense of humor, darlin'." He told her. She considered it.

"I guess I do." She said finally. "But that doesn't make me any less funny. So, are we ready to go?"

"Aye, we are."

Lilli followed Chibs out to his bike. As they passed her Bug, he paused to look at it; the top was down. He glanced at the sky, the clouds gathering to the West. "You might wanna put your top up." He told her. "Looks like rain."

She huffed out a sigh and nodded, pulling the car keys from her purse. Chibs stared at them, the things jangled with at least seven keychains. She started the Bug, he swore it was noisier than his bike, and put the top up.

When she was done he handed her his extra helmet. She eyed it with disgust before jamming it over her head, and fumbling with the strap.

"Here." Chibs reached out and buckled it for her, his hands brushing under her chin. "There you go, love."

"Thanks." She told him. "But I hate wearing these things; they give me serious helmet hair."

He shrugged and started the bike. "California state law, sweetheart." He shouted over the din.

Lilli climbed on behind him and wrapped her arms securely around his waist. Chibs felt slightly uncomfortable. When was the last time he had a pretty young woman on the back of his bike? And the way she was pressing into his back, he could feel her breasts against him. He made himself think of others things and it was a difficult ride to Teller-Morrow.

Lilli, on the other hand, enjoyed the ride very much. She'd always loved riding on the back of a bike. JC used to take her everywhere on his when she was kid, and then she'd dated several boys who rode them. She'd even considered getting one for herself, but had nixed the idea. She didn't want to drive; she just wanted to coast along. That was fine by her. And she liked being on the back of Chibs' bike. He was a nice guy, she'd decided. Oh, she wasn't fooling herself, she knew that the Sons were involved in some serious shit, but that didn't stop them from being nice guys. Her brother tried to gloss things over for her (Harley enthusiasts her ass) and she didn't blame him. JC was always trying to protect her like she was still ten-years-old and she didn't let on like she knew anything more than what he told her.

She rested her head against Chibs back. He smelled good, a mixture of smoke, leather, and Irish Springs soap. It was a manly smell and she liked it. Most of the guys she dated or hung around with doused themselves in Axe body spray until she wanted to puke. She liked this guy, she realized. He was cute, she thought. Not in a conventional, Ryan Gosling kind of way, but still, he was attractive. Those dark eyes, she liked they way they snapped at her, and the dimples in his cheeks gave him an almost boyish look. But Jesus Christ, he was nearly twenty years her senior_ and_ he was JC's best friend. Her brother didn't like it when she talked about boyfriends her own age, boys he didn't even know. He would never go for her and one of his friends. Best put the thoughts from her mind.

So she tried to, she really did, but they didn't seem to want to go away.


	3. Chapter Three

As it turned out, what Lilli was so eager to talk to Gemma about was a job. She was bored sitting in Juice and Chibs house day in and day out. She didn't know much about cars, but she hoped they could find something for her to do.

So Gemma put her to work sweeping floors, bringing the guys food and drink when they needed it, helping Chucky file, answering the phone, mopping out the clubhouse, whatever she could find for her to do. She liked the spunky young woman and, surprisingly, enjoyed having her around. Everyone pretty much seemed to. Okay, so she talked a little too much, and she made odd jokes that no one really understood, but she was an all right girl, and she _was_ Juice's kid sister, so they mostly just chalked the weirdness up to genetics.

There was one thing in particular that Gemma had noticed though, these last few weeks since Lilli had began working around the garage, and that was how Chibs watched her. Not in an openly lustful way, like Tig did, or in a loving brotherly way like Juice. No, he watched her in a quiet way that made Gemma nervous. Chibs watched her while she swept the floor, stopping to talk to Jax and Ope, while she helped Piney carry a load of tools from the toolbox, and while Kozik showed her how to hook a car up to the tow truck.

At first Gemma couldn't put her finger on why Chibs' watchful eye made her nervous. He wasn't doing anything, just looking at the girl, but still. After some thought, though, it hit her. It made her nervous because she hadn't seen him look at anyone like that except for Fiona. Gemma pondered this. On the one hand, Lilli was a good girl, real smart, and she could be good for Chibs. But on the other, she was Juice's kid sister and he'd probably freak out and shoot the Scotsman for even thinking about her like that.

It was a bit of a dilemma and Gemma was curious to see how it would all play out.

* * *

"Lilli, your phone's going off." Juice looked out from under the end of the car he was working on. His little sister was pushing the broom around, he could see her flip-flopped feet, the swallow tattoos on each one; but she didn't answer. "Lilli?" Still, nothing.

He peered out further to see she was blaring her IPOD, bright pink earbuds in her ears. She couldn't hear him. He sighed and pulled off his shoe.

"What're you doing?" Bobby, who was above him fiddling with the engine, asked. Juice grinned.

"Just getting her attention." He answered, before lobbing the shoe at her back.

Lilli yelped in surprised and jumped about six inches in the air. She ripped her earbuds out as she whirled around to glare at her brother, ignoring the titters of the others.

"What the fuck is the matter with you?" She asked, throwing his shoe back at him as hard as she could, which honestly, wasn't very hard. Juice caught it easily.

"Your phone's been going off for like, ten minutes." He said.

"And what, you couldn't tap my shoulder?" She huffed. "You had to throw your shoe at me? What are you, fifteen? _God_! And you got dirt on my Bazinga shirt! Ha, that totally rhymed. But you're still a douche!" Her phone sounded again, an upbeat tune about waking in the morning feeling like P. Diddy.

"See?" Juice said innocently. "I told you so."

Lilli's eyes narrowed dangerously again. "Don't forget, I know where you sleep, asshole." She snapped as she checked it.

"Ohh…sounds like a threat." Jax joked and Juice rolled his eyes.

"Please. She could never hurt her favorite brother."

"You're my _only_ brother, thank God." Lilli said, tucking her phone back in her pocket. "It's just Del."

"Who's Dale?" Tig asked. "Your boyfriend?"

"I don't have a boyfriend." Lilli said, going back to sweeping. "And Del's a girl; it's short for Delta. She's my best friend."

"What happened to Lindsey?" Juice asked. "You guys have been best friends since kindergarten."

Lilli raised her brows. "Mom didn't tell you? Lindsey and I aren't friends any more."

Juice shook his head, sliding back underneath the car. "Why not?"

Lilli sighed and leaned against her broom. "Because, since Colton hit it big on Wall Street, and their like, squillionaires now, she can't afford to have friends the same color as the help."

This stopped Juice for a second and he pushed himself back out. "Did she really say that you?" He asked incredulously. Lilli shrugged.

"Not in those exact words, but that was the jist." She said. "Like she's so much better than our family, the bitch. I was maid-of-honor in her wedding! Remember, she made me wear that hideous purple dress? I looked like a transvestite Barney the Dinosaur!"

Juice glanced around at his club brothers, most of who were hiding smiles as they listened to his sister on her tear. "I remember." He said.

"And I threw a baby shower for her ugly kid!"

"Lilli!"

"What?" She shrugged. "Have you seen that baby? His head looks like a squash!"

"Well…" Juice couldn't dispute this, said baby was pretty ugly. "Still, it isn't nice to say that about a baby."

"What, you're the politeness Nazi?" She asked, scooping the dirt into a dustpan. "Its not like I'm going up to kids all like you're ugly!" She paused. "But I probably would. You know. If they were." She dumped the dirt in the trash can and sashayed out the door.

It was quiet for about five seconds and then Clay looked at Juice. "That girl is something else."

Juice smiled, shrugged. "Yeah, tell me something I don't know."

* * *

An hour later, Lilli was sitting in the little office's chair, spinning around and around, the radio playing quietly behind her. She was supposed to answering the phone, but the phone wasn't ringing.

Just as she thought this, it rang. Lilli grabbed it up.

"Teller-Morrow." She put on her nicest voice. "This is Lilli. How can I help you?"

It was a woman with a flat tire on Creekmore Road. Lilli wrote down the information and took it to Kozik.

"Shit," he said when he looked at it. "Creekmore is way out there. Hey, you wanna ride along?"

Lilli shrugged. "I'd like to, but I gotta man the phone while Gemma's gone."

Kozik pointed. "She's back." Lilli turned to see Gemma and Chuck carrying sacks into the clubhouse. "So…how about it?"

She puffed out her cheeks. "Shit, I don't know if Gemma will let me…"

Kozik waved his hand. "I'll ask her." And he jogged over to where Gemma was and spoke to her. He was back in less than thirty seconds. "She says it's cool; Chucky can answer the phone."

Lilli smiled. "All right." She said. "Let's go."

"Lilli, where you going?" Juice called out when he saw her climbing into the truck.

"Lil's going on a tow with me!" Kozik shouted back. "Don't worry Juice, I'll keep her safe."

Lilli waved and blew her brother a kiss as they backed out of the parking space.

Gemma, standing in the office doorway, with Chucky bobbing behind her, watched Juice's eyes narrow as his sister rode off with Kozik.

"Why's she going with him?" He demanded. Gemma shrugged.

"Why not?" She said. "Give her a little…hands on experience."

Juice's eyes narrowed again and Gemma found it funny that Chibs', still sitting beside the bike he was fixing, expression mirrored Juice's almost exactly.

* * *

"You mind if I turn the radio on?" Kozik asked. Lilli shook her head.

"No, go ahead."

He flipped to a classic rock station and grinned as an old Def Leppard song came on. "I can't stand to drive without music." He said.

"Oh my God, I know, right?" Lilli said. "I'm the same way. Before I drove out here, I bought a ton of blank cd's and made a bunch of my own mixes so I'd never be without something to listen to. I can't stand silence in the car, it just seems boring."

Kozik chuckled and she cocked her head to the side. "What?"

He shook his head. "You're just…you're something else, you know that?"

Lilli grinned. "I do tend to march to the beat of my own drummer." She said. "I like to be different. Who wants to be like everyone else?"

"Not me." He agreed. "So, you know your brother is probably going to want to kick my ass for this."

"For what?"

"For me bringing you along on this tow." He said. "Now, you may not have noticed this, but Juice is a tad overprotective when it comes to you."

"No, really?" Lilli asked sarcastically, and then she laughed. "After twenty-two years, I guess I'm used to it. Its not really JC's fault, he can't help it. Daddy kind of drilled it into his head from the time the twins were born; we're his little sisters and it's his job to look out for us. And since I'm the youngest, I get the brunt of it."

"Does it bother you?" Kozik asked as he turned from the highway onto a side road. "You know, that he acts like you're still twelve?"

She shrugged and propped her feet up on the dashboard. "Nah. Not really. I guess if I started dating someone out here though, and he was like, always in the middle of it, then yeah, I'd get pissed."

Kozik grinned at her. "Oho, you got anyone in particular in mind?"

Lilli thought of Chibs and then felt her face heat up. "No." She said, looking out the window. "I'm just speaking in general."

"Uh-huh, _sure_ you are." Kozik winked. "Come on, who is it? You can tell me."

"No one!" She insisted.

He shook his head. "I think you're lying. Let's see if I can guess…is it Tig?"

Lilli sputtered a laugh. "What? Tig? No! He's…not my type."

"Yeah," Kozik said thoughtfully. "He seems a little too kinky for you. Hmm…it's not Opie, is it? You guys seem pretty chummy…"

"No, he's married to a freakin' porn star." Lilli replied. "Why would he be looking elsewhere?"

"Oh God, it's not Happy, right? 'Cause he's almost as bad as Tig!"

"No!" Lilli practically shouted. She took her rubber flip-flop off and hit Kozik's shoulder with it. "There's NO ONE!"

"Yeah, right." Kozik turned onto a rock road. "I'm gonna figure it out, you just wait and see, missy."

They found the woman with the flat tire easily enough and it only took a few minutes to change it and get her back on the road. Once they were back on the highway, headed back to the garage, Kozik brought it up again. And this time, he hit the nail on the head.

"Is it Chibs?" He asked, wondering why he didn't think of the Scotsman sooner.

"No!" Lilli said, a little too forcefully. Kozik looked at her, taking in her flaming face.

"It is, isn't it?" He asked, somewhat surprised. "You like Chibs! Don't you? Don't you?"

Lilli slumped back against the seat, defeated. "_Yes_. But for the love of all that's holy, you better keep that fact to yourself, Kozik! _Please_!"

"All right, all right!" He said, holding up his hand. "I won't say a word! Scouts honor!"

"Thanks."

"Why don't you want him to know?" He asked her. "I mean, I think you have a fairly good shot with him."

Lilli scoffed. "I don't think so; he has all those chicks who hang around the clubhouse falling all over him."

Kozik waved his hand carelessly. "Those are just crow eaters." He said. "Shit, you've already got a higher status than those bitches."

She looked at him, chewed on her pinky nail. "What makes you say that?"

"Because, you're Juice's sister. You're already family."

Lilli sat back in her seat as they drove through town. Kozik had given her a lot to think about.


	4. Chapter Four

Chibs sipped the pina colada that Lilli had made him as he sat at the kitchen table. She and Juice were making _Rellenos De Papa_ for supper and he was watching. In all honesty, Chibs had no idea what _Rellenos De Papa_ even _was_. From what he could make out, it was some kind of potato pastry filled with beef and beans and then deep fried in oil. The two siblings were fixing them up so fast, with Lilli making them and Juice doing the deep frying, that Chibs could barely keep up. Of course, the three pina colada's he'd had weren't helping. It was a fruity drink, not his typical fair, but Lilli had insisted.

"If you're gonna eat Puerto Rican food, you gotta drink a Puerto Rican drink!" She said, handing him his first one. He had to admit, as fished a maraschino cherry from the bottom of his glass, it was pretty good.

"Where'd you two learn to make this stuff?" He asked.

"Our _Abuela _Rosa." They replied in unison. Chibs blinked.

"What?"

Lilli giggled. "Our Grandma Rosa. She came to Queens from Puerto Rico as a new bride, when she was seventeen. That was in…gosh…"

"1952." Juice supplied, sipping his own drink. "_Abuela_ and _Abuelo_ came to New York in 1952."

"Right," Lilli giggled again and Chibs thought she might be getting tipsy. Between the rum and the heat of the kitchen, a lovely flush had settled on her cheeks. "Anyway, she made sure all of her children and grandchildren knew how to cook Puerto Rican dishes."

Chibs looked between the two of them. "How many of you are there?" He asked. He suddenly found it strange, that in all the time he'd known Juice, he'd never asked much about his family.

"Our Mom is the youngest of eight kids." Juice answered, dropping another ball of dough into the hot oil. "And there are twenty-two grandkids in our family."

Chibs, surprised by the number, choked on his drink a little bit. "Big family." He sputtered.

"Please," Juice sat the fried dough to drain on some paper towels. "You should see us at Thanksgiving. It's frightening."

"Do you have brothers or sisters?" Lilli asked, pouring herself another drink from the blender and then topping Chibs' off.

"Aye," He answered. "Two sisters, Ada and Kerri."

"Older…younger…?" Lilli sat down and propped her feet up. Chibs stared at the cartoon birds tattooed on her feet.

"Ada's older than me and Kerri was younger." He said finally. "I was right in the middle."

"_Was_?"

"Me sister, Kerri, she…uh…passed on." Chibs said. He looked down. He hated talking about his younger sister and her death and prayed that Lilli wouldn't ask how she died.

Lilli was starting to do just that when she glanced at her big brother. Juice shook his head, an unspoken signal, and she got the message. Chibs didn't like talking about his little sister. So she let it go.

"Oh, I'm sorry." She said. "So, you think you're brave enough to try Juice's cooking?"

Chibs let out an internal sigh of relief. He wouldn't have to speak of Kerri, or her death, today. "I think I might be." He said. He eyed the younger man mistrustfully. "Maybe."

"Um, excuse me?" Juice asked. "When we were in Ireland a few years ago, I saw you eat_ haggis_. Fucking haggis, man. You've got the belly of a goat."

Lilli laughed. "Oh, JC, remember that old man that lived down the block from us that kept that old billy goat tied up in his front yard?"

"Yeah," Juice grinned. "Goddamn, that thing was mean…"

Chibs smiled and let two of them regale him with stories of their childhood in Queens.

* * *

The food was good, better than good, and when the meal was over, Chibs pitched in and helped with the clean up.

He was washing the dishes and Lilli was drying and putting them away.

"_And all I ever knew, only you_." She was singing under her breath.

"Excuse me?" Chibs asked, looking at her. She blushed.

"I'm sorry, I was singing."

"'S okay." He told her, sticking his hands back in the hot, soapy water. He knew she could sing quite well, he'd heard her in the shower. Not that he was _trying_ to listen to her while she was taking a shower, but his bedroom was right next to the bathroom and the walls were quite thin…

"Are you sure?" She asked, taking a plate from him, rinsing and drying it. "If it bothers you…"

"Why would it bother me?" He asked, washing another, thankful for once that he and Juice had never gotten around to installing a dishwasher.

Lilli shrugged her thin shoulders. "I don't know; it bothered my ex-boyfriend a lot. He used to tell me to shut up with the goddamn singing all the time."

Chibs lifted his brow. "Sounds like a real prick." He commented. "I think you have a lovely voice." And a lovely everything else, he didn't add.

"Well, thanks." She told him. "Ugh, I hate washing dishes! You guys really need a dishwasher or something!"

"You're not washing, you're drying." Juice told her. Lilli glanced up as her hand brushed Chibs' in the water. Their hands lingered together for a nanosecond before she pulled hers away.

"Shut up, asshole." She said to her brother, and then flung her dishrag down. "The rest can fit in the drainer, I'm done."

"Hey," Juice called behind her as she headed for her room, formerly the guest room. "I thought we were gonna watch some movies after we ate?"

"We still can." She said. "But let me take a shower real quick, huh?"

He waved his hand. "Go on, then. But you realize that this means that I get to pick the first movie?"

Lilli sighed. "Whatever. Just don't pick something stupid."

He grinned. "Would I do that?"

She sighed again, but didn't answer, just went into her room and shut the door. Juice looked at Chibs. "Is my taste in movies really that bad?

Chibs shrugged and kept washing. Lilli had been fine until he touched her hand. It had been an accident, but it made him feel stupid. Stupid for thinking that a fresh, pretty girl like her would even look twice at a used up, old biker like himself. He was used to the crow eaters falling all over him, but he had to remind himself that those girls were different than Lilli. They didn't sleep with him and fawn over him because they_ liked _him or enjoyed his company; it was about climbing the status ladder within the eyes of the club.

In the bathroom, Lilli turned on the hottest water she could stand and stripped her clothes off. She climbed under the stream, first hissing at the heat of the water and then relaxing once her skin was used to it. She felt like an idiot, reacting the way she did when Chibs had touched her hand. She remembered what Kozik had said a few days before, that she had a shot with the Scotsman, but she herself didn't see it. He was handsome and experienced; he'd been _married_ for crying out loud. She was young, wouldn't even be twenty-three until July, and full of silly antics. He probably looked at her like she was a child.

* * *

Juice had picked his favorite eighties flick of all time, Red Dawn. The opening credits were just rolling when Lilli came into the living room in her pajamas.

"Jesus," She said, flopping down on the couch. "If you had to pick a Swayze movie, couldn't it have least been like, The Outsiders or something?"

Juice, stretched out across the floor, hit her with a pillow. "Wolverines!" He shouted and she rolled her eyes. She looked at Chibs, who was sitting at the other end of the couch.

"You like this movie?"

He shrugged. "Yeah, I like it all right." He said. "I enjoy a pre-tiger blood Charlie Sheen, but my tastes tend to lean more towards Platoon."

Lilli smiled, unable to help herself. "Well, I prefer Patrick Swayze, but Dirty Dancing is more my style."

Chibs snorted. "Yeah, I would've figured you for all that namby-pamby dance shit."

"Did you just utter the word 'namby-pamby' at me?" She asked.

He grinned. "I did."

"I don't even know what that means."

"Guys!" Juice looked up from his spot on the floor. "Seriously, shut up."

Lilli rolled her eyes again, but she and Chibs were quiet throughout the rest of the movie. When Red Dawn ended, she and Juice squabbled over what the next one should be.

"Children!" Chibs held his hands up. "Since you two can't seem to decide without it coming to blows, we'll be watching my favorite movie."

Lilli groaned when he revealed it was Braveheart.

"_Really_?"

"Hey," he said. "It's set in Scotland and I'm from Scotland. Besides, I like a pre-crazy Mel Gibson."

Lilli shook her head. "You do like your insane actors. Are you a fan of Gary Busey?"

"But of course."

"Dude, Chibs," Juice broke in. "This movie is like, eight hours long."

"Try three and a half." Chibs sighed. "Just put the goddamned thing in."

"That's what she said." Lilli piped up. "What?" She asked when both men looked at her. "I thought it was funny."

* * *

Juice fell asleep before the movie was thirty minutes in. He lay in the floor, snoring lightly.

"I'm cold." Lilli said.

"Here." Chibs pulled an afghan off the back of the couch. "This'll keep you warm, but be careful with it; me Ma made it when I was a kid."

"Really?" Lilli inspected the blanket as she wrapped it around her. The bright orange and dark brown definitely screamed late seventies style, she thought. "You want some?"

Chibs let his eyes slid up her bare legs in the light of the television. "Some what?" He asked, feeling suddenly unable to think straight.

"Some blanket." Lilli looked at him. "Do you wanna share the blanket?"

"Oh…oh, yeah. Thanks." He pulled the end of the cover over his legs.

"Um…would it be all right if I laid my feet in your lap?" She asked.

"Uh…I guess?" He didn't know what to say here. He should tell her no, he thought, but dammit, he wanted to feel some part of her against him, even if it was only her feet.

"Thanks." She stretched her legs out, tucking her small feet into his lap. "Oh, that's better. My legs cramp if I keep them tucked under me for too long."

"It's fine." He said. He patted her feet under the blanket, trying to assure himself more than her. "Fine."

And together on the couch, they continued to watch the movie.


	5. Chapter Five

"This is bullshit!" Lilli rounded on her brother. "It's fucking bullshit, JC! I don't need a baby-sitter! Jesus, I'm almost twenty-three years old!"

"Yeah?" Juice spat back. "Then why don't you act like it? God, not everything revolves around you, Lilliana!"

"Fuck you!" Lilli hurled one of her flip-flops across the room at him.

"Fuck you!" Juice threw it back at her.

Chibs sighed and took a sip of his beer. As entertaining as it was to watch the siblings fling insults (and shoes) at one another, he decided he needed to put a stop to it. As Juice slammed out the front door, Chibs caught Lilli lightly by the arm and led her into the kitchen.

"Let me go!" She snapped at him.

"Not until you calm down." He said to her. "Seems like the two of us need to discuss something, love."

They heard Juice's bike roar to life and pulled away from the curb.

"Sit." Chibs told her. She glared at him and he pushed her lightly down into a chair. "I said, sit _down_!"

She gaped at him, mouth slightly agape, probably because he had pushed her. Not hard enough to hurt her, but still, she seemed like the type of girl to get het up over something like that.

"We need to talk." He repeated. "You calm enough to understand what I'm about to tell you, or do you wanna run around here, screaming like an idiot and throwing shit for another few minutes?"

Lilli shut her mouth and narrowed her eyes. "Tell me what you got to say."

"You've been here, what? A month now?" He asked, lowering his voice. She nodded. "And I'm sure you've realized that we're not just a motorcycle club, am I right?"

She nodded again. She knew that the Sons were involved in deeper shit than they let on.

"What I'm about to tell you does not leave this house, do you understand me?" Chibs leaned in closer to her. "Lilli, I need your word that you won't repeat anything I tell you. Clay'd kill me if he knew I was saying anything."

"I swear." She said. "What is it?"

"The run we're making tonight isn't just any old run down the coast for fun." He began in a whisper so low that Lilli practically had to put her ear to his mouth to hear him. "It's a delivery."

"And what are you delivering?" She asked, looking up into his eyes, eyes that were so dark they were almost black. "Drugs…money…what is it?"

"I don't think you need to worry about that." He said. "But Clay needs both Juice and I, so there's no one here to stay with you."

"And that's what pisses me off." She replied. "I'm perfectly capable of staying by myself."

"Lilli, do you know how to shoot a gun?" He asked her. She bit her lip and then shook her head. "No? What would you do if someone broke in here while we were gone?"

"I'd call the cops…" She trailed off when Chibs shook his head.

"No! You _never_ involve the cops." He sighed and rubbed his hand over his eyes. "Okay, this is what Juice is talking about! There are people in this town, who want to hurt the MC, and they could do that by hurting you, don't you understand that?"

And finally, she did. This wasn't about her brother treating her like a kid; this was about him and Chibs trying to keep her safe. She closed her eyes for a second and when she opened them, fear was evident.

Chibs looked at her; he was so close he could breathe her breath. "What is it?" He asked.

"I'm scared." She said.

"You'll be safe with Tara and Gemma-." He started, but she shook her head.

"I'm scared for _you_." Lilli told him. "What if something happens to you?"

He was shocked. "To me?"

Her face turned pink when she realized what she'd said. "To you, or to JC." She amended quickly.

"Ach, we'll be fine." He told her. "We always are, love."

"Why do you call me that?" She asked him. "Love, I mean. You don't call any of the other girls love."

He swallowed. The look on her face, the way she was biting her lip, it made him nervous. "Oh, well, uh, I save that endearment for the girls I care about." He said lamely.

"You care about me?" She tilted her head to the side, her dark brown hair spilling over her shoulder. Chibs could smell her green apple shampoo; how many times had he stood in the shower, opening up her different soaps and shampoos, just to get the scent of her in his nose?

"'Course I do." He said gruffly. "You're Juice's sister."

She looked down, bit her lip again. "I like spending time with you." She said.

"I don't know why." He told her. "You're young…and pretty…and I'm…I'm…" He trailed off.

"You think I'm pretty?" She asked, looking up at him.

"Well, I, uh, I think you're…" He stopped and sighed. "Lilli, you know you're beautiful. And smart and…and…"

"_Shhh_…" She whispered, bringing her hand up to his cheek, and touching one of the scars there, rubbing her thumb along it gently. He caught her other hand in his and brought it to his mouth, kissing the ridge of her fingers. She sighed, letting out a low sound of desire that had him bringing both of his hands to the sides of her face and pulling her closer…closer…their lips were only centimeters apart…and the front door slammed shut.

The two of them jumped apart guiltily, Lilli's face a deep shade of red and Chibs' heart beating ninety to nothing. Juice came into the kitchen, looking less angry.

"Lilli…" He began and she rushed at him, throwing her arms around his neck.

"Its okay," She told him. "Chibs explained it; I understand why I can't be here alone overnight now." And as he hugged her close to him, she looked at Chibs over her brother's shoulder.

Chibs felt a stab of guilt in his gut. What had he been thinking? He'd almost kissed Juice's little sister! _But_, a heady voice whispered in his brain, _she was gonna kiss you back_. He told the voice to shut it, Juice was his best friend. _Then he should be happy_, the voice responded, _happy that his sister found someone already so close_. Chibs sighed and flipped the voice the mental bird. It was too fucking early to be arguing with voices in his head and he needed a smoke.

Lilli hugged her brother tighter. She'd been a brat about the whole thing and she felt bad about it. Well, part of her felt bad about it; the other part was positively giddy over what had happened with Chibs. She'd been having sex since she was seventeen, had had three serious boyfriends and several partners, and none of them put the fire in her belly that Chibs Telford put there.

* * *

Lilli rode on the back of her brother's bike to Jax and Tara's house in the early evening light. She was a little uncomfortable; she liked Jax a lot, but she'd only met Tara a handful of times and she didn't know her very well at all. Sure, she seemed fairly nice…but still. At least Gemma would there for a while, anyway.

"Are you sure you guys will be safe?" Lilli asked as she climbed off Juice's bike. He sighed and rolled his eyes. He appreciated his sister's concern, but this was the tenth time she'd asked that in the past hour.

"Yes, Lilli," He said. "I promise we'll be_ fine_." He kissed her forehead and she hugged him tightly.

"I love you." She said, kissing his cheek.

"Love you, too."

She turned to Chibs, who was idling on his own bike. "So, um, be safe." She told him. He nodded.

"Sure thing. Just a quick run, nothing to be worried about." He told her. She hesitated, but then put her arms around him too, and pressed a quick kiss to his cheek, right on the scar she'd touched earlier.

"I mean it, Chibs." She said in his ear. "Please be careful."

"I will be." He touched her hair. "Go on inside now, Lilli, and try not to worry too much, huh?"

She smiled at them both again and hurried up to the front door where Gemma was waiting. She turned to watch both men back out of the driveway and ride off.

"You all right, baby?" Gemma asked. Lilli nodded.

"Just worried about them." She said.

Gemma put her arm around Lilli's shoulders. "They'll be fine. It's just a routine run. Nothing to worry about."

"That's what Chibs said." Lilli sat her overnight bag on the couch.

Gemma raised her eyebrows. "You and Chibs have gotten kinda close, huh?"

Lilli shrugged, thinking of the almost kiss that had happened in the kitchen earlier. "I guess. We're friends; he's pretty cool."

"Uh-huh." Gemma looked at her, and then bent over and picked Thomas up from the floor. "You know he has a thing for you, right?"

"What?" Lilli felt her face turning red. "No he doesn't."

"Yeah," Gemma nodded. "He does." She touched Lilli's shoulder. "Honey, everyone knows it except for you. And Juice; I don't think he's privy to how Chibs feels about you, either."

Lilli wanted to argue, wanted to say something, but before she could, Tara came in, Abel in her arms.

"Oh, hey, Lilli." She said. "How are you?"

Lilli shrugged. "All right, I guess."

"Good." Tara nodded. "Well, I blew up the air mattress in Abel's room, so you can put your stuff in there."

"Okay," Lilli stood, picked up her bag. "Thank you."

The air mattress was already made up like a bed, so Lilli just laid her bag down on it. She sighed, rubbed her eyes. Was Gemma right? Was it possible Chibs really did have some sort of feelings for her?

For supper, they decided to order in Chinese food, so Lilli rode along with Tara to go and get it.

"How do you like Charming?" Tara asked her as she backed her old Cutlass down the driveway.

"Oh, you know, I like it all right." Lilli answered. "Juice wants me to stay here with him, and get my masters at UCS. I told him I'd think about it."

"What's you major?"

"Psychology." Lilli chewed her thumbnail. "I want to be a children's therapist."

"I think that would be a hard job." Tara said. Lilli shrugged.

"No harder than what you do."

Tara nodded, that was true.

They picked up their food and headed back towards the house, mostly making small talk. Lilli decided she liked Tara.

The food was good, but Lilli felt a shock to her gut when she pulled the fortune from her cookie. It read "_Love is friendship set on fire_".

She crumpled it up and tossed it in the trashcan.


	6. Chapter Six

"You look pretty hot."

Lilli looked up to see Bobby, Tig, and Chibs standing over her. She sat back on her haunches and wiped the sweat from her face. The run was over and there was going to be some kind of party at the clubhouse that night. All Lilli really knew was that she, along with two Prospects, had been tasked to clean the place up. After ten minutes, she'd sent the Prospects, who obviously had no idea what _clean _actually meant, on their way. Now she was down on her hands and knees, scrubbing the floor with a wire brush.

"Like temperature hot or sexy hot?" She asked, reaching over to turn the old school Madonna cd she was blaring down.

"Can't it be both?" Tig asked, reaching his hand out to help pull her to her feet.

Lilli gave him a Look. "No. It can't."

"You want something to drink?" Chibs asked her. They hadn't had a moment alone since he'd gotten back.

"Do you have anything, I don't know, non-alcoholic behind that bar?" She asked, perching herself on a stool.

"Oh, I think I can rustle something up for you." He told her, pouring her a glass of plain Coke. She grinned.

"Thanks."

Chibs watched her while she downed the soda in two long gulps. She looked so cute in her cut off jeans and a ratty tank-top, her dark hair tucked under a bright blue bandana. She rested her head on her forearm and peeked up at him.

"I'm tired."

"You should be." He told her, filling her glass up with soda again. "Tryin' to clean this damn place by yourself, what are you woman, crazy?"

"Well, hell, those two Prospects wouldn't know clean if it jumped up and bit 'em on the ass." Lilli replied. "Phil wanted to mop the floor _before_ he swept it."

Chibs pressed his hand over his heart dramatically. "Oh, the horror! Ain't no one gonna be payin' attention to the floor tonight, love."

She reached out and flicked his arm. "Shut up. I take pride in my work, thank you very much. Gemma told me to clean this place up and dammit, it's gonna be clean!"

He smiled and tucked a piece of stray hair behind her ear, a gesture that didn't go unnoticed by his two brothers. "Well, you best get back to it then."

She returned his smile and slid off the stool. _'Like a Virgin'_ was soon playing again, though not as loud, and Lilli was back down on her hands and knees, scrubbing away.

"What was that?" Bobby asked.

"What was what?"

"That whole conversation." Tig leaned on Chibs other side. "Seriously, man, you hittin' that?"

"No…" Chibs shrugged. "She's Juice's sister. We're just friends, that's all."

"Sure." Bobby snorted. "Just friends, my ass."

Chibs stood up straight. "What the fuck is that supposed to mean?"

"What that means," Bobby began. "Is that anyone with eyes can see that you and that girl are anything but _friends_."

Chibs looked at both of them. "What?"

"Come on, Chibby, don't play dumb." Tig said. "We see how you act around her, how you talk to her, how you look at her. Everyone does."

"Except for Lilli." Bobby chimed in. Tig nodded.

"Yeah, except Lilli." He paused. "And Juice. That boy don't see nothin' he don't wanna see.

Chibs chuffed out a sigh. All this time he thought he was being sly, but everyone was on to him. "She's too good for me." He told them. "She's smart."

"You're smart." Tig punched him on the shoulder. "Hell, you were damn near a doctor. Would've been if it wasn't for that fucking court martial."

Chibs snorted. "I was no closer to being a doctor than you are." He said. "It's not just that. You wouldn't know it from the way Juicy Boy lets on, but they come from money. Their old man, his family is old money. They're probably disappointed enough that their only son is tangled up with us; how're they gonna feel if their youngest daughter is too?"

And neither of the other two men knew how to answer that.

* * *

Later that evening, Juice leaned against the bathroom doorframe as his sister fixed her hair, plucking curlers the size of soda cans from it and dropping them in a basket.

"Don't they hurt your head?" He asked.

"Nope." She said, removing the last one. She began to alternate finger combing her hair and then spraying it with Aqua Net. Juice wrinkled his nose and waved his hand in front of his face.

"This isn't 1988." He told her. "I think you're good."

"Shut up." She told him. "You don't even _have_ hair."

"What's that smell?" Chibs came from his bedroom and joined Juice at the bathroom door. "Jesus, now we're waiting in line to get to the fucking toilet?"

"I'm done." Lilli said, pushing between the two men as they began to jostle each other to get into the bathroom first.

When Chibs came out of the bathroom, he'd had to go last as Juice had given him an elbow to the stomach and then slammed the door in his face, he met Lilli in the hallway.

"You look nice." He told her, swallowing hard.

She did a quick spin, showing off her outfit, and Chibs caught sight of the large flower tattooed on her right shoulder blade. Nice wasn't the word he really wanted to use. Sexy was more like it, in her short jeans skirt and the dark pink shirt that tied around her neck. She'd gained several inches in height and at first he thought it was the way she was wearing her hair, but when he looked down her realized that her high heeled sandals were the cause. "And you're taller."

She stuck her foot out, modeling the black flip-flop for him. "I know, right? I love these shoes."

Juice came out of his bedroom, pulling his cut on. "What is this, a secret meeting in the hall?" He looked at his sister. "How the hell do you plan on getting on my bike in that skirt?"

"I don't." She replied. "I'm driving myself to the clubhouse. I don't wanna mess up my hair."

"God forbid, she messes up her hair." Juice said. "Are we ready to go, or do you guys wanna stand around here in the hallway for a few more minutes?"

Lilli laughed and threw her arm around her brother's waist. "You're such a jackass. Let's go."

* * *

When they arrived at the clubhouse, it was already full. Lilli spent a few minutes in the car, adjusting her makeup.

"It's not a beauty pageant love, just a party." Chibs told her as he opened her car door.

"Aren't you a gentleman?" She asked, stepping from the Bug. "And I wanna look nice, if that's okay with you."

"Fine by me."

Lilli looped one of her arms through Juice's, the other through Chibs. "Aren't I lucky, with the two most handsome men here to escort me?"

Juice laughed and kissed his sister's cheek, and Chibs felt his stomach flip. How could he stay away from this girl when she made him feel like this?

It was even harder once they got inside. They were separated by the crowd, Chibs at the bar with his brothers, and Lilli on the other side of the room talking to Tara and Lyla. He couldn't stop watching her, though. Over the rim of his beer bottle, out of the corner of his eye, over the head of the crow eater who was flirting with him. Lilli was laughing and dancing and having a good time, oblivious to him. Or so he thought.

Lilli was just as aware of Chibs as he was of her. It twisted her gut to see the crow eater with the hair so bleached it looked like straw and the huge, obviously fake tits flirting with him. So when Kozik sidled up to her, she grinned and nudged him with her hip.

"Hey, beautiful." He said to her. "They're playing our song."

Lilli realized that the song that was playing was the Def Leppard song they'd listened to when they'd gone on that first tow together. "Yeah, I guess they are."

"So come and dance with me." He told her.

She glanced at Chibs, who was watching the exchange very closely. "Oh, um, I don't know…"

"Oh, come on." Kozik put his arm around her. "It'll do Chibby some good to be a little jealous."

She grinned. "Well…all right." And allowed Kozik to pull her to the floor.

For Chibs, seeing Lilli and Kozik together, laughing and dancing like they were, it was like a punch to the gut. _She wasn't interested in you, you idiot_! His brain screamed. _Look at her, having the time of her life with someone else_. He grabbed the elbow of the crow eater in front of him.

"Come on."

Lilli looked up in time to see Chibs leading the blonde towards the bedroom in the back. She felt the air whoosh out of her.

"What's the matter?" Kozik asked, and then followed her line of sight. "Oh. Oh shit. Lilli…"

"I have to get out of here." She said quietly. He could hear the tears in her voice.

"Lilli, wait!" He tried to follow her out the door.

"What's going on?" He was joined by Gemma moments later. Of course, there was nothing that went on that she didn't seem to know about.

"We were dancing; I told her it would be good to make Chibs a little jealous." Kozik shrugged. "I guess it worked too well, because we just saw him taking a crow eater into the back."

"Shit." Gemma cursed. "Shit. All right, I'll deal with the girl. You waylay Chibs."

Kozik nodded. It wasn't long, maybe thirty minutes before Chibs was back. As soon as he stepped from the hallway, Kozik had grabbed him and was hauling him into the kitchen.

"What the hell is your problem?" Kozik hissed at him. Chibs blinked and looked around.

"Don't have one." Chibs said. "What're we doing in here?"

"You're an idiot." Kozik told him. "You do realize that, don't you?"

"What the fuck are you talkin' about?"

Kozik sighed and rubbed his hand over his face. "I'm talkin' about the fact that while you were playin' happy pants with that skank, Lilli was so upset Gemma had to drive her home."

"Why…why was she upset?" Chibs didn't understand. "I saw her with you, she looked happy as can be."

"Oh, you idiot, she was trying to make you jealous." Kozik realized how loud his voice was and dropped it a little. "That girl is crazy about you! Well, she was until you pulled this."

"How do you know?"

Kozik sighed again. "I know because she told me! A few weeks ago, she told me! And tonight, we were dancing; she was hoping you'd notice. But no, all you can see is this I'm not good enough for her bullshit!"

"I have to." Chibs pushed past Kozik and headed out the door.

When he got back to the house, he found Gemma just leaving.

"Where is she?" He asked. "Where's Lilli?"

"Locked up in her bedroom, sobbing her heart out." Gemma told him. She delivered a swift smack to the back of his head. "You really fucked up this time, Chibs."

"I'm going to try and make it better." He said. Gemma shrugged.

"That girl's got a mad on like I've never seen, with a shit ton of hurt underneath it. You may not be able to make it better."

He had to try though. He knocked on Lilli's door.

"Lilli, its Chibs." He said. "Please, let me in."

"Go away!" Her voice was raw sounding. "Just leave me alone!"

"Please, let me explain, love-."

The door flew open so quickly he nearly lost his balance. Lilli stood in front of him, quite a different picture from the last time he'd seen her. The smiling, happy lass was gone. Her face was blotchy, her makeup smeared, hair a tangled mess.

"I'm not your_ love_." She snarled at him. "Don't you _dare_ call me that!"

He tried again. "Lilli…" He reached out for her, to wipe the tears from her face, but she slapped his hand away.

"Don't you touch me! You made me think…you said you cared about me and I believed you!" The tears gushed fresh. "Just stay away from me, Chibs, okay? Just leave me the fuck alone."

She slammed the door back in his face and what else could he do? He left her alone.


	7. Chapter Seven

**Authors Notes: Okay, this chapter is bumped up to M, just to warn you! And someone pointed out in a review that Lilli seems kind of childish; that's EXACTLY what I'm going for with her! I want her to (sometimes) come across as a childish, spoiled brat. Her parents and siblings have babied her because she's the youngest and she has a lot of growing up left to do over the course of this story. Now, here be some words!**

* * *

Chibs' first thought was honestly, how long could she stay angry? But Gemma was right; Lilli was good at holding onto a mad. It had been a week and a half and she was still avoiding him. Even Juice had noticed something was going on.

"You and Lilli having a beef?" He asked Chibs as they sat on their front steps smoking in the twilight.

Chibs exhaled. "Did she say something?"

"No." Juice shook his head. "But she's been acting weird. She says its just PMS, but shit…"

Chibs shrugged. "I don't know, brother." He said. He felt bad for lying to the younger man, but what was he supposed to say? _Your sister is pissed at me because she thinks I led her on_? Yeah, that'd go over_ real_ well.

So he just kept his mouth shut.

At work, things were even worse. She wouldn't look him in the eye and she only spoke to him when it was necessary. It was even harder watching her laugh and talk and carry on with the others. Gemma tried to help him out by scheduling them off on the same days, but it was no good. Lilli spent her days off at the library or locked up in her bedroom.

"I don't understand what she's so upset about." Clay said to Gemma. Gemma sighed as she tried to explain it.

"She thinks he led her on." She said.

"So?" Clay shrugged. "It was a misunderstanding! If she wants to be with him, why doesn't she just be with him?"

Gemma rolled her eyes. "You've never been a young woman." She said finally. "You can't understand."

And Chibs, having also never been a young woman, couldn't understand either. So finally, two weeks after the incident, he and Lilli were alone in the house for the night. Clay needed Juice's hacking skills and for some reason, didn't need Chibs along. He smelled a set up, but decided to ignore it.

Lilli was in her nightgown in the living room, watching South Park reruns and painting her toenails blue.

"Can I sit?" He asked her. She shrugged her shoulders.

"You can do what you want, I guess."

He sighed and sat on the other end of the couch. "Which episode is this?"

"The one where Bebe gets boobs." Lilli didn't look at him, just went on painting her toenails.

"Oh." He was quiet for a second and she started to get up. He reached out and grabbed her arm and surprisingly, she didn't shake it off. "Don't leave." He said to her. "Sit with me."

"I can't." She said, turning to look at him full on for the first time in two weeks. Her voice shook and Chibs suspected that tears were close. "I can't let you make me think…" She trailed off.

"I meant it when I said I cared about you." He told her. "I swear to God I did."

"Then why'd you have sex with that slut?" She asked. He sighed.

"I don't know." He answered honestly. "I saw you with Kozik and I thought that you and him were…you know."

"We were just dancing!" She said. "Christ, its not like we were dry humping right there!"

He chuckled, unable to help himself. "I know." He interlocked his fingers with hers. She wasn't pulling away now. "I'm sorry, Lilli, I really am. I'd do anything to make it up to you. If you'll let me."

She scooted closer to him, the last wisps of her anger melting away. "All right." She said.

He smiled. "Really?"

"Yeah." She touched his cheek. "Really."

He pulled her to him and finally, _finally_, their lips met. It was a slow burn at first, but it quickly became more frenzied and she moaned as he sucked on her bottom lip. He ran his hands under the back of her night shirt, delightfully surprised to find her braless. He brought his hands around to fondle her breasts and she sighed in contentment.

"I want you." He whispered in her ear. "I've wanted you since I first saw you."

"Well, I'm right here." Lilli whispered back.

Chibs laid her back on the couch as they continued to kiss. He moved his lips down her neck and into the hollow of her throat. She could feel his hardness pressing against her thigh and she rubbed herself against him. Chibs groaned and slid his fingers down her stomach and into the front of her panties. Heat and wetness rushed out to greet him and Lilli arched against him as her moved his hand in circles over her most sensitive spot. This went on for a few minutes before he pulled his hand away. Lilli grabbed it, opening her eyes.

"Why are you stopping?" She asked. He sat up, pulling her up with him.

"Our first time, you deserve a bed." He told her. She squealed as he scooped her up into his arms and carted her off to his bedroom.

Chibs laid her down gently on his bed and pulled her nightgown off. She slipped out of her panties and he stared at her for a second, completely naked on his bed. How many times had he imagined this very thing?

"What?" She asked, suddenly self conscious.

"You're beautiful." He answered honestly and her face turned red.

"I don't…I mean, I've not…" She trailed off and an alarming thought suddenly occurred to Chibs.

"Christ, Lilli, you're not a virgin, are you?"

"What? No! I just…I've not been with a whole lot of guys." She admitted. "Less than ten. I'm not as experienced as you."

"That's okay." He told her.

He climbed over her on the bed and they began to kiss again. She pulled his flannel sleep pants down and he kicked them off. She reached down and began to stroke him lightly and he groaned.

"Jesus, love, you make me crazy." He told her. She smiled and blushed again as he slipped between her legs. He slid inside her and when they began to move together, Chibs swore his IQ dropped fifty points.

* * *

When it was over and they were both spent, they lay close together, their legs intertwined, smooth over hairy. Lilli rested her head on Chibs' chest. She could hear his heart beating.

"Wow." She said, looking up at him. "That was…wow."

He laughed. "I agree. I'm surprised the walls are still standin'.

She giggled. "Are we…I mean, am I your…?"

"Old lady?" He supplied with a smile. She nodded.

"Well…yeah. Am I?"

He shrugged. "Do you wanna be?"

She bit her lip. "I think so. Yeah, I do."

He kissed the tip of her nose. "Then you are. At least until you go back to Mississippi when the summer is over."

She looked at him in surprise. "Don't you know? I'm staying."

"You are?"

Lilli nodded her head. "Yeah. I went in Monday to the UCS admissions office to start getting my transcripts transferred from Ole Miss."

He shook his head, wondering why the hell she would choose to stay in Charming in the midst of being angry at him. "Woman, you are a creature I'll never understand."

She shrugged. "That's okay. But, um, can we talk about something real quick? Well, two somethings."

"What is it?"

"Well, it's just...if I'm the only one, then I'm the only one, you know?"

"No." He said. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

She laughed. "Okay, well, what I meant was, if you're with me, then you're _only_ with me. No more crow eaters, all right?"

He looked down at her. "All right." He said seriously. "What was the other something?"

She bit her lip again. "I think we should hold off on telling JC about us."

"That might be a good idea." He said. "I don't think he's going to be very happy about it, is he?"

She shook her head. "No, I don't think he is." Lilli reached up to kiss him. "But let's not talk about it anymore, huh?"

He grinned and pulled her on top of him so they could make love again.


	8. Chapter Eight

Lilli felt like she was walking on a cloud. There had never been another man that made her feel like Chibs did. The way he looked at her, they way he touched her…she'd never felt like this before. She was in a pink haze of new love and she was enjoying every second of it.

The only dark spot was trying to hide it from her brother. It was hard. JC was smart, smarter than a lot of people gave him credit for. And Lilli thought that maybe he had already began to suspect something was going on, so one Sunday, the only day the garage was closed, and she wasn't a bit surprised when he approached her in clubhouse after church.

"How about we take a ride, huh?" He asked. "You and me?"

"Um…" Lilli glanced over to where Chibs had just begun a pool game with Happy. He shrugged his shoulders slightly, indicating that he didn't know what was going on. "All right. I guess."

She sent her boyfriend one last look as she followed Juice from the clubhouse. Chibs shrugged again.

Lilli allowed Juice to fasten her helmet, she still found the damn things tricky as hell, and she climbed on the bike behind him. "Where are we going?"

"Just something I want to show you." He said, starting the bike up.

Lilli clung to his waist. Something was going on. Maybe he did know, maybe he'd seen her sneaking from Chibs' room, or heard them together. Maybe it would be easier if it was all out in the open and they didn't have to hide anymore.

They rode south out of Charming, heading into the country. Lilli laid her head between her brother's shoulder blades, her nerves tumbling in her stomach. What was going on?

They rode for about fifteen minutes on the highway; the Juice turned the bike onto a paved side road. They passed a doublewide where a redheaded girl was watering flowers, and rose up a steep hill till they came to a large white house with a 'For Sale' sign in the front yard. Lilli was surprised when he pulled into the driveway and shut the bike off.

"JC, what's going on?" She asked, as he climbed off and then helped her down.

"I'm buying this house." He said to her. She blinked at him.

"Say what?"

He grinned. "I've already put an offer down on it. The place itself isn't very expensive, but it needs a ton of work. If I get it, I'm going to spend my days off fixing it up."

Lilli was stunned. "When…when did you decide to do all this?" She asked. He shrugged.

"I found this place a few months ago." He admitted. "I was just out taking a drive and I came across it. I knew I had to have it."

"JC…you don't know the first thing about fixing up a house." She said. He shook his head.

"That's where you're wrong." He told her. He reached down and took her hand. "Come on, let's walk. The place comes with eight acres."

"So you're going to become a homeowner, huh?"

Juice laughed. "Yeah, I guess so."

They walked out behind the place. Lilli looked around. If he could pull off actually fixing it up, the place would be nice. Which led her back to her first concern.

"Just how do you plan on going about this?" She asked him. "I mean, what kind of work needs to be done?"

"The floors need to be replaced. A pipe must've busted on a previous owner." He said. "Because it's all water damage. I'd like to restore it back to its original fare, so walls will have to be taken down in some places, put back up in others. Its gonna take a lot of time and money, but I figure I can be in here in about a year." He shrugged.

"Why are you telling me all of this?"

Juice sighed, ran his hand over his mohawk. "I wanted you to be the first to know. No one else does yet, and I'm not going to say anything until the house is mine."

"Does Chibs know?" She asked. Juice shook his head.

"No, he doesn't. And I'd appreciate it if you didn't tell him."

"Okay." She replied. Just one more secret to add to her growing pile, she thought. "I won't."

"I'm glad you mentioned Chibs." He said after a few seconds of silence. "Because I've been wanting to talk to you about him."

Lilli felt her stomach turn over. "What about him?"

Juice sighed again. "I know you have some kind of crush on him," He began.

"No, I don't-." Lilli started to protest, but he held his hand up to stop her.

"I know you do." He said. "And he's my brother and I love him like he was blood, but I don't like it. He's not good enough for you, Lilli. None of them are."

"How can you say that?" She asked. "_You're_ one of them!"

"It's nothing against Chibs, or any of the MC, but that's just how I feel." Juice told her. "You're smart, you're going places, the last thing I want for you is to be caught up in the middle of our bullshit, like Tara is."

Lilli looked down at the ground. So much for coming clean right then. "All right." She said finally. "I understand."

"You swear there's nothing going on between the two of you?" He asked her. Lilli nodded and placed her hand over her heart.

"I swear to God." She lied.

* * *

A few house later, Chibs returned from the clubhouse to find the brother and sister, laughing in the kitchen, attempting to make homemade pizza. An old Beach Boys cd blared on the counter.

"You two can sure as shit destroy a kitchen." He said to them. "And that pie looks like it got run over by a damn semi."

Lilli threw a piece of shredded cheese at him. "Shut up. Its gonna taste great."

"Yeah." Juice agreed. "Augh! Lilli, it's our song!"

"Help me, Rhonda!" Lilli reached to turn the radio up.

Juice took her hands and began to twirl her around in time to the music. Chibs snagged some pepperonis from the counter. He smiled as the siblings danced. He was glad everything seemed to be okay between them. He was sure, when Juice and Lilli had left earlier, that Juice was onto them. That didn't seem to be the case though.

"_Help me Rhonda, yeah! Get her out of my heart_!" The siblings sang along with the song, Lilli bumping her hip against her brother's. Chibs shook his head and went to take a shower.

He stood under the stream of hot water and let himself relax. Obviously, Juice still had no idea what was going on between he and Lilli. He had to admit, he was nervous about how the younger man was going to react when he found out. But that didn't stop him from being with Lilli every possible second, from thinking about her when she wasn't around. He was surprised to find that, even after just a few short weeks together, she stirred emotions in him that even Fiona had not. It wasn't even about the sex, although that was fantastic, he just enjoyed simply being around her. Sooner or later, he knew, they'd have to tell Juicy Boy and deal with whatever fallout that brought, but he thought that they could handle it. For now, he was just letting it ride.

When he exited the bathroom, he found the two of them, still laughing, trying to clean up their mess.

"I think you're just making it worse." He said over the music. Lilli turned to him. She looked so cute, he thought, with cheese in her hair and pizza sauce smeared on her cheek. "You look like you rolled in it, love."

She laughed, her dark eyes lighting up. "Well…there was kind of a cheese fight…"

"A _cheese_ fight?" Chibs wasn't sure he even wanted to know.

"And I emerged victorious!" Juice crowed, raising his hands above his head. Lilli shot him a dirty look.

"Because you cheated!"

"The great and powerful Juan Carlos_ never_ cheats!" Juice shouted. Chibs looked more closely at the mess. There was an unusual amount of cheese on the floor…

"You guys were _throwing_ cheese?" He asked. They nodded. "Isn't that a waste of money?"

"Oh my God, you sound like our Dad!" Lilli cackled. She put on a deep voice. "What do you think, I'm made of money?"

"Shut the door, we're not heating the whole damn neighborhood!" Juice joined in.

Chibs shook his head. "I'll be in living room." He said.

When the mess was finally cleaned up and the pizza in the oven, they joined him in front of the television. Lilli plopped down beside Chibs. He looked at her and then, without thinking, reached over and wiped the pizza sauce from her cheek.

She chuckled nervously. "Um…thanks."

Juice watched the exchange silently. He didn't care what Lilli had sworn earlier, something was going on. And he was going to find out what it was.


	9. Chapter Nine

It was _hot_. Chibs sighed and pushed his sweaty hair off his forehead. They were in the middle of summer and four days into a heat wave that had descended upon Charming. Even after fourteen years in the States, the summer heat was one thing he couldn't get used to. It _never_ got this hot in Ireland.

He looked around him; everyone was sweaty and in foul moods, snapping at one another. They all kept finding excuses to step into the air conditioned office, where Gemma was doing paper work. There were several fans about the place, but all they seemed to do was blow the hot air around. The sky hung low with clouds, a promise of rain that never came. Heat lay atop the town like a lid on a jar.

It was miserable.

Things might have been a tad bit better for Chibs, had Lilli been around. But she wasn't; she'd been off doing repo's with her brother and Happy most of the day. He felt almost like Juice was doing it on purpose, trying to keep them apart. But then he thought maybe that was silly. He and Lilli had been very, very careful with their sneaking around. Juice didn't suspect a thing…or so, Chibs kept telling himself.

It was too hot, Chibs decided, to be thinking of all these things. He sighed again, feeling almost like an angsty teenage boy, and stuck his head back under the car hood. Just a few more hours, he reminded himself, just a few more and then he could go home and take a nice, cool shower. And then, a few hours after that, Juice would go to bed and he and Lilli could sneak off into his bedroom and have a repeat performance of the night before.

He smiled to himself as he thought about how she giggled as he kissed his way up her inner thigh, how she sighed when he ran his tongue down the seam of her panties, the way she trembled when he her tasted there, between her legs…nope, _not_ a good thing to be thinking of, he told himself as he grew hard in his jeans. Not in a garage full of men.

So he went back to thinking of how hot it was instead.

He threw himself into his work, only concentrating on the engine at hand. It wasn't until he heard Opie mutter "Thank God" that he realized the air had changed. It was finally raining, the water pouring down like a torrent from the sky. Chibs walked to the open bay doors to watch it fall, steam rising up from where the raindrops hit the hot asphalt. After five solid minutes, it still hadn't let up, and the temperature had dropped at least fifteen degrees.

"I have to restrain myself from running out and dancing in it." Opie said, standing beside Chibs to watch it fall. Chibs laughed.

"No kiddin'." He said. He shook his head. "It always makes me miss Ireland, when it rains."

"You miss that place?" Opie cocked an eyebrow and Chibs had to remember that his California brothers' hadn't had a very good experience with his homeland.

"Sometimes." He admitted. "You always miss your first real home."

"How old were you when your family moved from Scotland to Belfast?"

Chibs lit a cigarette. "Six." He answered. "I only have a few memories of Glasgow."

He stared out into the rain again. Almost all of his childhood memories were of growing up in Belfast and most of them involved rain, he realized. His clearest memory was playing with his little sister in the street while rain poured down around them. Kerri had worn a yellow slicker with a matching hat and boots. She'd looked like a mini version of the Morton's Salt Girl. He sighed, stubbing out his smoke.

Rain reminded him of Kerri and thinking of her always made him sad. Maybe if he had protected her just a little bit better…but he pushed the thought from his mind. What had happened to her had not been his fault. He hadn't even been in Belfast when she was killed; he'd already joined the Queens Armed Forces. So what had happened was not on him…

"Chibs?" He startled a little when Opie touched his shoulder.

"What?"

"I said, looks like your girl is back." Opie repeated, indicating as the tow truck pulled into the lot.

"She's not my girl…" Chibs protested half-heartedly. Opie snickered.

"Yeah, whatever you say, man." He said. "Whatever you say."

Chibs hated denying that he and Lilli were together, he hated hiding the fact. All the sneaking around made him feel really shitty and he knew that they couldn't hide it from Juice much longer. They were going to have to tell him and soon.

He smiled as he watched Happy pull the tow truck as close to the bay doors as he could get it. Juice hopped out of the cab and helped Lilli down. They ran, laughing, through the downpour and into the dryness of the garage. Even just those few seconds in the rain had drenched both of them.

Lilli's lime green tank top clung to her and Chibs could see the outline of her bra underneath. He pulled off his Teller-Morrow work shirt and handed it to her so she could cover up.

"Thanks." She said, laughing again as she literally wrung the water from her hair.

"No problem." He tried to sound indifferent, like he didn't care one way or another, but he wasn't sure he pulled it off.

Juice watched the exchange with his eyes narrowed. Honestly, how stupid did they think he was? Everyone knew that_ something_ was going on between Chibs and Lilli. He was almost certain they were sleeping together. Were they more than that? He didn't know. He hoped not. Juice meant what he had said to his sister before. She was better than him, better than the life he led. She was smart; she could be anything she wanted to be. Why would she purposely choose to waste her time hanging around a motorcycle gang? _You did_, a snotty voice in his head reminded him. _You could've been anything, too. The army was going to pay your way through school; you could've been the next Bill fucking Gates. How are the choices Lilli's making right now any different than the choices you made eight years ago?_ Juice told the voice to shut up and then he realized how strange it was to be hearing voices in his head. So he chalked it up to the heat and went back to silently fuming over his sister and Chibs. He had decided not to say anything, not yet. He didn't have any real proof. So, he thought, he'd just keep it to himself.

An hour later, they were on the last tow of the day. Lilli had been reined into running errand with Gemma and Happy had gone home for the day.

"Chibs, you and Juice go." Clay had said. Juice had started to protest, but had shut up with a Look from his president.

"You sure that's a good idea?" Jax had asked as the two had driven off together.

Clay shrugged. "It'll liven shit up, if nothing else."

"So…" Chibs tossed his mind around for something to talk about as he rode shotgun in the tow truck. "How long do you think the rain'll last?"

Juice shrugged. "Dunno." He answered. "Hopefully not through the Fourth."

Chibs nodded. The Fourth of July was right around the corner and Charming always put on a huge celebration. "I hope so, too." He said. He felt so awkward; why were things suddenly so weird between them? They were like strangers, discussing the damn weather. "So, uh, Lilli's birthday is coming up." He said after a few more seconds of silence.

"How'd you know that?" Juice asked suspiciously.

"She, um, told me it was July eighth." Chibs replied. "You got anything planned?"

Juice shrugged. "Gemma's planning a party, and I was actually thinking of calling her friend Del and seeing if she wanted to come and spend it with her."

"Good idea." Chibs nodded. "She'll like that."

Maybe the awkwardness would go away if he just blurted it out. They both knew that Juice knew what was going on anyway. Chibs imagined it._ I'm sleeping with your sister!_ He would yell. Then Juice would slam on the breaks and precede with kick the crap out of him. Chibs wouldn't fight back, because what kind of friend hooks up with your kid sister behind your back and then lies about it? A shitty one, that's what kind.

"Are you listening to me?"

"Hmm?" Chibs drug his mind back to the conversation at hand. "What?"

"I said, maybe I'll get a hold of Del later, see if she can make it up for the Fourth." Juice repeated. "She could stay the whole week."

"Yeah." Chibs nodded.

"But it's a secret." Juice looked at the older man. "So you can't tell Lilli."

Chibs held up his hand. "My lips are sealed."

* * *

Later that night, long after Juice was asleep, Chibs and Lilli were lying side by side, naked, in his bed in the dark. He was tracing his fingernail around and around her nipple, making it stand up like a pencil eraser.

"We have to tell him." Chibs told her.

"Tell who what?" Lilli mumbled sleepily. She usually spent most of the night in his room, waking up at an early hour to slip back to her own bed. Chibs couldn't wait till the cat was out of the bag and she could just move into his room.

"Tell Juice about us."

Lilli's eyes opened. "Why?"

Chibs sighed. "Because, he already knows. Everyone knows and we just look like dunderheads trying to hide it."

Lilli giggled. "What the hell is a_ dunderhead_?" She asked. Chibs glared at her and she tried to stop laughing. "Okay, I'll be serious. What makes you think he knows?"

He shrugged. "Are you kidding? Everyone knows about us, Lil! And I think it would be better if we were up front with him instead of him catching us together like this."

Lilli sighed. "All right," She said. "Fine. We'll tell him…after my birthday."

"That's nearly two weeks away!" Chibs protested. "No, I think we should tell him tomorrow."

"Tomorrow!" Lilli sat up, the blanket falling away from her. Chibs was momentarily distracted by her nakedness. Her words brought him back to the argument at hand. "That's too soon!"

"Do you like lying to him?"

"No, of course not." She said. "I just…he's not gonna be happy about it."

"He's already not happy about it." Chibs told her. "Holding out is just gonna make it worse."

She bit her lip and nodded, looking down. "I'm afraid." She said after a few minutes. He put his arm around her and she snuggled closer to him.

"Of what?" He asked.

She sniffled in the dark and Chibs realized with faint horror that she was crying. She was an easy crier, this he knew; she'd cried buckets at the end of Braveheart. But that had been just a movie. This was real. He hadn't dealt with a crying woman in a very long time.

"I'm scared that JC's gonna get really mad about us and that you'll change your mind." She told him. "I'm scared you'll dump me to pacify him. He's your brother and who am I? Just some girl..."

"Oh," He said. That thought never even crossed his mind. "Lilli, I can promise you that will _never_ happen, okay? No matter how mad your brother gets, he's just gonna have to get used to us."

She sniffled again and he wiped her eyes with his thumbs. "You promise?"

Chibs kissed her on the head like she was a small child. "I swear it." And he meant it.


	10. Chapter Ten

**Authors Notes: I would've had this chapter psted sooner, but I've been SUPER busy! I had finals last week, but grades were posted and I finished out with a 91 in Sociology; an 86 in English Comp; and a 98 in Math! Go me! Everything was going great until I got a speeding ticket today! My very first! Apparently, I was doing 73 in a 45. Whoops...oh well. Anyway, here be words!**

* * *

Five minutes after picking her up from the airport, Juice understood why his little sister was best friends with Delta Porter: they were exactly alike.

Oh, they didn't look alike. Del was tall and curvy, with light blonde hair and big blue eyes. The way her body was shaped, she reminded Juice a little of the old pinup's of Marilyn Monroe. When she spoke, however, she was Scarlett O'Hara. Juice didn't think he'd ever met someone with such a thick southern accent.

No, the way they were alike was more in their personalities. It was obvious that Del had the same goofy sense of humor and quick witted mind that Lilli had.

"So Lilli really has no idea?" She asked as she got into the big black van.

"Nope." Juice grinned. He was still annoyed at his sister for her choice of lover; he was now 100 percent sure that she and Chibs were doing the dance with no pants, but he was excited to surprise her. "We're just gonna go to the garage and I want you to walk in, all casual, okay?"

Del nodded. "Okay." She bounced in her seat a little. "Oh, this is gonna be so much fun! I love surprises!"

It didn't take long for them to reach Teller-Morrow. Everyone was in on the surprise and was expecting them. Lilli was emptying the trashcan when they walked up.

"It never fails to amaze me how many beer bottles I find in here." She was saying. "This is _supposed_ to be a place of business."

"Drinking helps us concentrate." Bobby told her. She rolled her eyes and grinned at the older man.

"Sure it does." She sat the trashcan down and hefted the bag up, preparing to take it to the dumpster when she spotted her brother. "JC, where you been?"

"Oh, I went to pick something up." He said and Del stepped out from behind him.

She threw her hands in the air and jutted her hip out. "Surprise!"

Lilli dropped the trashbag. "Oh my God! Del! What're you doing here?!"

The two girls rushed each other, hugging and jumping up and down.

"Your brother asked me to come out for your birthday!" Del told her. "Are you surprised?"

"Yes!" Lilli hugged her friend again and looked around. "You were all in on this?"

"Yeah," Jax told her. "But it was Juice's idea."

Lilli hugged her brother. "You're the best!" She told him, jumping up and down and kissing his cheek. Juice shrugged, feeling his face heat up as he hugged her back.

"Well, I try."

After Del had been introduced around, Lilli picked up the trashbag she'd dropped and the two of them walked out to the dumpster together.

"So, your boyfriend, he's…different than I expected." Del said cagily. Lilli raised a brow.

"And by that you mean…?"

"I mean, he's not your usual type." Del shrugged.

Lilli sighed. "And what's my usual type?"

Del shrugged again. "You know, blonde, athletic, extra douchey."

Lilli couldn't help but giggle at the last one. "Well…."

"He's cute." Del said. "Just not what I expected. Honestly, Jax seems more your type."

Lilli shook her head. "No way; Jax is _very_ taken. And Chibs is…I don't know, I've never felt about anyone like I feel for him."

Del grinned. "Uh-oh…you're in love!"

Lilli scoffed. "I am not! God, we've only been seeing each other for a few weeks."

"And your brother doesn't know?"

"I think he suspects." Lilli admitted. "But he hasn't said anything. Chibs says we have to tell him soon."

Del nodded. "He's probably right. He still doesn't know about Adam, does he?"

Lilli sighed again. "No. He doesn't. And I don't want you saying anything, okay? That shit is all done with."

"I saw him." Del told her. "Me and Corey saw him at The Italian Place a few nights ago. He tried to talk to us, tried to find out where you are."

Lilli shuddered. "You didn't tell him, did you?" Del shook her head.

"No, of course not." She said. "But someone might…Lil; you need to tell these guys so they can protect you if he does show up."

Lilli shook her head. "I'll cross that bridge when I come to it." She said. Del sighed again.

"And your boyfriend, he doesn't know either, does he?" She asked.

Again, Lilli shook her head. "No…I didn't know how to tell him. I mean, how do you start that conversation? Oh, by the way, I have this slightly crazy guy stalking me because he thinks we're in a relationship. Yeah, that doesn't sound dramatic at all!"

Del rubbed her temples. "All right, I can see where you might be leery about sharing that information, but I really think-."

"Del," Lilli interrupted her. "Can we please talk about this later? You just got here, I wanna enjoy the time I have with you. I promise, I'll tell JC and Chibs about Adam, just not today."

Del held her hands up. "All right." She said. "But you have to tell them before I leave, okay? Or I will!"

Lilli sighed. So now, not only did she have to tell her brother that she and Chibs were seeing one another, she had to tell both of them about Adam.

It wasn't that she had really meant to keep it a secret, it just felt good to not everyone know and look at her like she was a freak or something. At Ole Miss, people she'd never even met would stare at her and whisper behind their hands. It was rude and annoying. She would tell the guys, she would.

* * *

Later that evening, practically the entire town had gathered at the fairgrounds for the festivities. There were games, rides, music, and food. And as soon as it was dark enough, there would be a firework display put on by Opie.

"He's cute!" Del said, checking out the tall, bearded man as he walked away from them.

"And married." Lilli told her.

Del sighed dramatically. "Well, balls."

"You have a boyfriend anyway!" Lilli said as they got in line at funnel cake stand.

"Excuse me, Corey is not my boyfriend!" The blonde protested. "He's just a friend with whom I happen to be intimate!"

"Puh-lease!" Lilli rolled her eyes. "You two have been hooking up since we were sophomores! Don't you think its time you made it official?"

Across the midway, Chibs stood with Tig and Bobby by the dart game. Bobby was trying to win an Elvis teddy bear; he thought it would go nicely with his collection. Tig was checking out any overage lady who happened to pass by and Chibs was watching Lilli and her friend as they ordered a huge funnel cake.

"Staring longingly at Lilli from across the midway isn't going to make Juice any less suspicious." Tig told him. "Even though she looks good enough to eat in that sundress."

"Shut up." Chibs told him. "And stop eyeing my woman!"

"Aha!" Tig held up a finger. "So, he finally admits it! I knew you two were shacking up! How is she between the sheets? Inquiring minds are dying to know!"

Chibs gave him a Look. "I don't kiss and tell." He said. He waved at the girls and they started towards him.

"Hey, sweetie." Del sidled right up next to Tig. "You wanna go on the Ferris wheel with me?"

Tig draped his arm over her shoulder. "Sure."

"Delta, you're afraid of heights." Lilli reminded her. "Remember what happened when you tried to get on Mr. Freeze the last time we went to Six Flags?"

Del waved her hand. "Oh my God, that was like last summer. I'll be fine." She and Tig walked away together. Bobby, who was still trying to win the bear, looked over his shoulder.

"What happened to her on the Mr. Freeze?" He asked. Lilli grinned.

"She was fine on the actual ride, but when we got back down to the ground, she puked and then passed out. It was hilarious." She laughed at the memory. "Me and the other girls took like, twenty pictures of her and then we tagged them all over Facebook. It was great."

Chibs shook his head. "That's kind of mean." Lilli shrugged.

"Eh, it was payback. The week before, she dipped a bunch of tampons in red paint and hung them all over my bed."

"That doesn't sound so bad." Chibs said.

"Yeah, but she did it right before I brought a date back to our dorm room."

He laughed. "Okay…that's pretty funny."

Lilli shrugged. "We're always doing that shit to each other. When you're in a dorm with fifty-five other girls, it tends to get tedious." The two of them started to walk down the midway, both nibbling on the funnel cake.

"I bet." Chibs looked down as Lilli threaded her hand through his. "Lilli, your brother is around. He might see…"

"Let him." Lilli said. She'd been thinking all day about what Del had said earlier. "I don't care anymore. You're right, we've should have told him from the get go."

Chibs nodded and didn't remove his hand. If it didn't bother Lilli, it didn't bother him. He was ready for people to see that they were together. And people did see. Lyla and Opie were standing near where he was preparing the fireworks.

"Look at that." She said, pointing at the couple. "Chibs and Lilli are holding hands. Are they together?"

"Yeah." Opie answered. "They are."

"Well, will you look at that?" Clay asked Gemma as they stood in line for a corndog. Gemma followed her husband's line of sight.

"It's about damn time those two came out of the closet." She said. "They've been sneaking around together for weeks."

Clay raised a brow. "You knew?"

Gemma rolled her eyes. "Of course I knew. Only an idiot wouldn't know. Look at them!"

The two lovers had made their way to where the live music was playing and stood on the edge of where people were dancing. Chibs finished off the rest of the funnel cake and wiped the powered sugar from his hands. They stood side by side, listening to the music for a few seconds. When a new song began to play, Chibs was surprised when he realized it was an old Pogues tune; Love You Till the End.

"I love this song." Lilli told him. He smiled down at her, offered his hand.

"You wanna dance?" He asked her, feeling like an awkward teenager again. She seemed confused.

"With who?"

"With me, goofball." Chibs said, taking her hand and pulling her onto the floor. He put his arms around her waist and hers immediately encircled his neck.

"I didn't know you danced." Lilli said, looking up at him. He shrugged.

"I don't." Chibs leaned down, pressing his forehead to hers. "But I'm willin' to make an exception for the prettiest lass here."

Lilli smiled up at him. She had been planning to tell him about Adam, but she didn't want to ruin the moment. She just wanted to float.

Fifty yards away, Juice watched as his sister and his best friend slow danced together. There was no doubt in his mind now, they were together.

"You okay?" Tig had come up behind him, Del in tow.

"Yeah." He said. He threw the rest of his uneaten fried Snickers in the trashcan. "I'm fine."

"I would've eaten that." Del told him. He looked at her. "What? I would have." She sighed. "Look, don't get all bent out of shape over those two, okay? Your sister hasn't had the best of luck with men, you know? He's good to her, treats her real well. Isn't that enough?"

"He's supposed to be my friend." Juice hissed between his clenched teeth.

"So what? He can't be your friend and date your sister at the same time? There's a law against that now?" Del rolled her eyes. "Look, I shouldn't be telling you this, but the last guy Lil dated turned out to be a fucking psycho. If she cares about Chibs and he cares about her, then isn't that all that matters?"

Juice didn't answer. His mind was whirling. On one hand, he was dying to wade through the crowd and beat the shit of the Scotsman. On the other, what Del was saying was true. If Chibs treated Lilli well and they were happy with one another, why should he mind? So he just stood there and watched them dance, not knowing what to do or how to feel.

When the song was over and the two of them were making their way over to their friends, Juice caught Chibs by the arm.

"I don't like this." He said. Lilli took a deep breath, trying to control her temper.

"Yeah, well, it's none of your damn business Juan Carlos!" She started. "And you can take your opinions and shove them straight up your-!"

Juice held up his hand and cut her off. "I don't like it." He repeated. "But I'm going to allow it."

He turned around and walked away then, leaving Chibs in a guilty silence and Lilli in a sputtering mad.

"Who does he think he is?" She spit. "He's going to allow it. Like he runs my life, what an asshole, I swear to God, he's lucky I didn't have a bat in my hands…"

Chibs silenced her with a quick kiss. "Let's go home." He told her as fireworks erupted overhead.

* * *

**Authors Notes: So, Juice took the news well...for now. I know this seems a little...lovey-dovey, but serious shit IS coming, I promise. Perhaps in the form of Lilli's crazy ex?**


	11. Chapter Eleven

They were out and about with it now. Everyone knew. Juice tried to pretend it didn't bother him...but it did. Lilli was his baby sister; how was he supposed to feel? He wasn't stupid, he knew she had boyfriends and that she had sex with said boyfriends, but the thing with Chibs...it was right in his face every damn day. He _hated_ coming home on the days that he worked and Chibs and Lilli didn't; the whole house _reeked_ of sex and he _knew_ that they were doing it on every available surface. It was a dense, loamy smell that had him throwing open the windows even in the mid-July heat.

"The air conditioner's on." Chibs told him, lighting a smoke.

"It_ stinks_ in here." Juice shot back. Chibs shrugged.

"I don't smell nothing." He said. Juice didn't say anything, just kept opening the windows.

"You realize the air is on?" Lilli asked as she came into the living room. The necklace Chibs had given her for her birthday hung around her neck. It was a thin silver chain and on it hung a delicate silver key, inlaid with red stones. Juice was sure it was some "key to my heart" bullshit, but he thought that the rubies might be real.

"He says it stinks in here." Chibs told her, patting the seat beside him on the couch. She sat and immediately curled into him. Juice rolled his eyes. Lilli sniffed.

"I don't smell anything." She said. She looked at her big brother. "What does it smell like?"

"It smells like the fact that you two can't keep your favorite activity contained to the damned bedroom." Juice said without looking at either of them. "That's what it smells like."

"Oh." Lilli chewed her lip and looked at Chibs, who was obviously fighting a laugh. "Sorry."

"Uh-huh." Juice didn't even look at them, he just flipped the air off and sat down in the arm chair. The same arm chair where, only hours earlier, Lilli had straddled Chibs naked lap and ridden herself to a writhing orgasm. She figured her brother didn't need to know that though. Juice turned the TV on and wordlessly flipped it to a Big Bang Theory rerun. Lilli sighed.

She got it. Her brother was mad. Not only about the fact that he knew they were having sex in every room while he was gone (they were) or even because she and Chibs were together. Those things Lilli thought he could deal with. He might not like them, but he could deal with them. No, what he was really pissed about was what had happened the day after her birthday, right before Del had left. She'd held Lilli to her promise and made her sit Chibs and Juice down and tell them about Adam.

* * *

"He was in my educational psych class." Lilli had told them. "At first, he was really nice. Like, super friendly and stuff." Del, who was sitting beside her, nodded her agreement. "He studied with us in the library a few times, so when he asked me to go out, I said yes."

"We thought he was cool." Del added. "He seemed like he was."

Lilli pulled her knees up to her chin and Del reached down to take her hand. "The date was all right, nothing spectacular, just pizza and a movie, but the next day, I was talking to my friend Matt and we were laughing about something stupid that had happened in one of classes, when Adam just comes out of nowhere and starts getting in Matt's face." She shuddered at the memory. "I was freaking out and I kept screaming at him, asking him what the fuck was he doing. And he told me I was his now and that I wasn't to talk to any other men." Lilli felt wetness drip onto her leg and she realized she was crying.

Juice had exchanged a look with Chibs, but both of them kept silent, waiting for her to finish her story. "I told him to go fuck himself, I wasn't his and that he better stay the hell away from me." Lilli shook her head. "At first, I thought he was...but then, it's like everywhere I was, he was too."

Del nodded. "Yeah, it's true. We couldn't go anywhere without seeing him."

"I went to the police, but they said they couldn't do anything because he hadn't done anything."

Chibs snorted. Of course. The cops wouldn't do anything till someone got hurt.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Juice asked. Lilli shrugged.

"What could you have done?" She asked. "I thought if I came here for the summer, he'd stop. And then you guys wanted me to stay, so I thought that was a good choice too."

"So...you came here to get away from this guy?" Juice asked.

Lilli sighed. "That was part of it."

"Why didn't you tell us about this sooner?" Chibs asked her. She shrugged.

"I thought it was over with, but...Del says he's asking everyone he can where I am. If he finds out I'm in Charming, he'll come here."

"Who all knows you're here?" Juice asked. His voice was surprisingly cool. Lilli stared at him.

"Just a few people." She answered. "JC, what's wrong?"

"Nothing." He said. "Look, you don't have anything to worry about. If this creep shows up, we'll take care of him. Easy as that."

Chibs nodded. "But you should've told us sooner." He told her, kissing her on the top of the head.

Lilli nodded. "All right." She felt a little better now that they knew, but she still couldn't shake the creeped out feeling she had.

* * *

Her brother was pissed, she thought, because he thought she had only come to Charming to hide from Adam, not because she wanted to spend time with him. This was partly true, she had to admit to herself. But she loved spending time with her brother, too.

Later that night, she and Chibs lay in bed together in the dark.

"JC is pissed at me." She said. Chibs sighed and pulled her closer to him.

"Ah, he'll get over it." He said. Lilli shook her head.

"I've never seen him like this before." She said. "At least, not aimed at me. We've always gotten along so well." SHe turned and looked at her boyfriend in the darkness. "Did you fight with your sisters a lot growing up?"

"There are six years between me and Ada." He said. "We fought sometimes, but not very often. But me and Kerri...we fought all the time when we were kids. I was only thirteen months older than her, you know. We got along better as we got older."

"What happened to her?" Lilli asked. It was something she'd been wondering about for awhile. Chibs sighed again.

"She killed herself when she was seventeen." He said finally. "Hung herself from the ceiling fan in her bedroom. Da found her."

"Oh my God...I'm so sorry." Lilli hadn't been expecting that. She thought that maybe the girl had been killed in a car accident or something.

"She was raped." Chibs said. "Walking home from a movie one night in East Belfast. Our parents, they tried to help her. I wasn't there, I'd just joined up with the Queens Armed Forces."

"What could you have done?" Lilli asked him. "You were just a kid yourself."

"She couldn't handle it." Chibs said. "We found her journal afterwards...and it's like she blamed herself for it. After...well, I was given leave to attend her funeral and I was supposed to go back to the base the next day, but I didn't. I couldn't. It's why I was court-martialed, for desertion. I was obsessed with finding the guy who raped her. Jimmy, my best friend, led me to the Sons of Anarchy. He knew someone who knew someone in the club who could help."

Lilli was silent, listening. She knew this Jimmy was the same Jimmy who would later banish Chibs from Belfast and take his wife and baby.

"We found the asshole who did that to my sister. I sliced his throat. It was the first time I killed a man. I started Prospecting for the MC the next day."

Lilli laid her head against his chest. "I'm sorry that happened to you." She told him. "Losing your sister like that...it had to be rough."

"It was." He told her. "It still is, some days. But in the long run, I guess it was a good thing. It brought me to the Club...and to you."

"Always look for the silver lining."

He laughed lightly and kissed her nose. "Well, I try."


	12. Chapter Twelve

**Authors Notes: Well, I tried my hand at a Teller daughter story, but I decided that I didn't like it so I took it down. I really wanna finish this one, so I'm picking it up again!**

* * *

The summer was flying by so quickly. At the beginning of August, Kerrianne came for a week long visit. Chibs was a little nervous about it, having never introduced a girlfriend to his daughter before, but it was for nothing. The two of them got on like a house on fire and were busy discussing their favorite movies within an hour.

"They get along pretty well." Chibs said the next day in the clubhouse.

"Probably because they're almost the same age." Jax said, a comment that Chibs didn't find at all amusing. "I'm kidding." He said in response to the Scotsman's dirty look. "Look man, everyone thinks it's great about you and Lilli. She's a sweet girl."

"You don't think it's weird?" Chibs asked him. "I mean, I'm fifteen years older than her."

"So what?" Jax shrugged. "It's not that big of a deal, if you're happy and she's happy. Are you happy?"

Chibs nodded. "Yeah." He said. "I am."

And he was.

* * *

Later that evening, after pulling into their driveway, Chibs climbed off his bike and stopped to watch the two little girls across the street shriek in their swimsuits as their father sprayed them with the garden hose.

"Couple of cuties, huh?" Juice asked, also watching the kids play. They couldn't have been more than four and six.

"Yeah." Chibs answered. It made him sad; he never got that with his child and now she was too old to play. Kerrianne would rather text or listen to her IPOD.

In the house, he found her and Lilli stretched out across the living room floor. Lilli was painting Kerrianne's toenails hot pink and they were eating cinnamon and sugar popcorn and watching Titanic.

"Spoiler alert." Juice said as he came in behind Chibs. "The boat sinks at the end."

"Shut it." Kerrianne said, flicking a piece of popcorn at him. "This is my favorite movie."

"Is it?" Chibs asked. "I thought your favorite movie was Beauty and the Beast."

Kerrianne gave him a withering look. "Yeah…when I was like, six."

"That was my favorite movie too!" Lilli said. "My bedset even had Belle on it!"

"Yeah, this was after her Barney the Dinosaur phase." Juice piped up. "God, I hated that show. The theme song always got stuck in my head."

Lilli snickered and started to hum it. Juice threw a throw pillow at her, causing her to smear pink polish all over Kerrianne's big toe.

"Well, balls." Kerrianne held up her foot. "That sucks."

"You're an asshat." Lilli told her brother. She grabbed a cotton ball, soaked it in polish remover and then gently began to dab the sticky, pink liquid from Kerri's foot.

"Um, why don't we order a pizza?" Chibs suggested before anything else could happen.

"Extra pepperoni." Kerrianne said.

The girls had turned their attention back to the movie and Juice had gone into his bedroom, so Chibs sighed and called the pizza place. Then he grabbed a beer from the fridge and plopped down on the couch. Titanic wasn't his idea of a fantastic film, but it was all right. A few minutes later, Juice joined them with a beer of his own.

"I call bullshit." He said as the movie neared Leo's death scene. "They could've both fit on that door."

Kerrianne turned to look at him. "It's supposed to be _romantic_." She said.

"Yep, 'cause that's how I'd want to spend the rest of the relationship." Juice quipped around a bite of pizza. "Dead."

This caused Chibs to snort into his beer with laughter and that got Juice laughing and after a few minutes they were both just snorting and laughing, rolling around on the couch. Lilli and Kerri weren't amused. "Either watch the movie or hit the road!" Lilli told them.

"Like you haven't seen this movie fifty thousand times." Juice said to her. He looked at the screen just in time to see Rose let go of Jack's hand. "Oops, there goes Leo!"

"Out!" Lilli yelled, kicking her foot out at him. He grinned.

"You're the one screaming." He said. Lilli gave him a dirty look and turned back around. Kerri looked at her phone.

"Oh, I have to call Declan." She said, standing up and leaving the room.

"Who's Declan?" Chibs called after her.

"Her boyfriend." Lilli replied. "He's seventeen."

"She's too young to have a boyfriend!" Chibs said immediately. Lilli rolled her eyes.

"She's fifteen." She said. "Calm yourself."

Chibs shook his head; he still didn't like the idea of his baby with a steady boyfriend. He remembered very well what it was like to be seventeen-years-old, all Roman hands and Russian fingers, as his Mum had used to say.

"You're not seriously worried about this, are you?" Lilli asked. She rested her chin on Chibs knee and looked up at him. "I mean, they're not having sex or anything."

"Thank God." He muttered. He reached out and ran his thumb down Lilli's cheek and she grinned at him.

Juice didn't say anything, just turned his head. He fumbled for his phone just for something to do. That's when he noticed that he had a missed call from the real estate agent who'd been trying to help him get the house.

"I, uh, gotta make a call." He said, standing up.

Lilli and Chibs watched him go.

"Well, we certainly know how to clear a room." Lilli said. She climbed up into Chibs' lap like a child and kissed his nose.

"I like it better when we're alone." He said, pulling her in for a deeper kiss. He ran his hand up under her tank top, brushing his fingers over the silky material of her bra.

"Gross." They broke apart to see Kerri grinning in the doorway. "You seem so cool," She said to Lilli. "And then I remember that you're doing it with my Dad…"

"How's the boyfriend?" Chibs asked, his mouth twisting slightly around the last word.

Kerrianne sighed, her eyes taking on a dreamy quality that Chibs recognized. He'd seen it lots of times when girls thought they were in love. "He's good." She said. "I miss him."

"Yeah, well you wanna be careful." He told her. "Don't be makin' me a grandpa before me time."

Kerrianne's face reddened. "Dad! God!" She chuffed out a sigh. "I'm going to bed!"

And with that, she flounced off to her bedroom, the room that Lilli had first been staying in.

"You're awful." Lilli told him. He grinned and shrugged his shoulders.

"Well, I don't wanna have to make a trip to Belfast and shot the little prick between the legs." He said. Lilli laughed.

"You know, my father is making the same threats about you." She said. Chibs raised his brows.

"Is he?"

Lilli nodded and leaned her head in, her breath hot on his ear. "He is. He wants to know who is this new man I'm seeing? When am I going to bring him home to meet the family?"

"Well…" Chibs looked at her. He hadn't done the 'meet the parents' bit since he was a lad. "When are you?"

Lilli groaned and dropped her head into the crook of his neck. "Never!" She said, her voice muffled. "You don't want to meet the craziness that is my family."

"Well, I already know your brother." He grinned. "How bad can the rest be?"

She sighed and sat back up, climbing from his lap. "You have no idea. Okay, have you ever seen that movie My Big Fat Greek Wedding?"

Chibs nodded. "Yeah…years ago."

"Well, that's basically the Ortiz's; only instead of being Greek we're Puerto Rican." She brought her knees up to her chest. "Both of my sister's are married to Hispanic men. My Dad is already pissed because you're white."

Chibs blinked and something clicked into place. "Are you embarrassed by me?" He asked.

"What? No!" Lilli insisted, but it was too quickly.

"You are." Chibs said. "That's why you don't want me to meet them, isn't it?"

"No!" She insisted again. "I'm not embarrassed by you, I'm embarrassed by them!" She sighed and ran her fingers through her dark hair. "Look, in my family's eyes, I'll always be the baby. You know how my brother treats me? My parents, especially my Dad, are ten times worse than that. I'm just…I'm not ready to deal with him yet, okay?"

Chibs held up his hands. "Okay." He said. It still kind of hurt that she wasn't jumping for joy to introduce him to her folks, but he guessed he kind of understood. Maybe.

Juice came back in then, a big smile on his face. "Guess what?" He asked. He stopped and look between the two of them. "Am I interrupting something?"

"No, not at all." Lilli said. She smiled up at her big brother. "What's going on?"

"I got the house!" He told her.

She gasped. "The big house you showed me?" He nodded. She squealed and jumped up to hug him. He swung her around like he used to do when she was a little girl.

"What house?" Chibs asked. Juice sat Lilli down. He'd forgotten that no one else knew about it. "What're you on about, Juicy-Boy?"

"I kinda…bought a house." He said. "But it'll take a lot of work before I can move in."

Chibs was slightly shocked from this revelation. "What house?" He repeated. "Where is it?"

"It's out in the country." Juice told him. "About ten miles from town, on Shiloh Hill Road."

"That huge, white monstrosity?" Chibs asked. "The one that looks like it a good puff of wind could knock it over?"

Juice narrowed his eyes. "It does not!" He said. "I'm gonna restore it."

Chibs was unconvinced of this plan, but he didn't say anything. What good would it do if Juice had already bought the place? Besides, maybe it wasn't as bad as he had remembered.


	13. Chapter Thirteen

It was worse than he remembered.

Chibs sighed as he climbed off his bike and took a look at the huge ass house his friend had bought. He slanted a look to Jax, who was on his left.

"This is a joke, right?" Jax asked Juice. "I mean…you didn't really buy this rattrap."

Juice looked hurt. "Yeah." He said. "I did."

"You know it's probably haunted." Chibs was only half joking. "I'm Scottish; we have a sixth sense about these things."

Juice shook his head and allowed himself a small smile. "Come on." He said. "Let's go inside."

A few minutes later, Tara and Lilli pulled into the driveway in Tara's SUV.

"Jesus," Tara said, looking up at the huge house. "I can't believe Juice actually wants to _live_ here. No one's lived in this place for years."

"I wonder why not." Lilli said, also looking up at the house. "It could be gorgeous."

"It was once." Tara told her. "Before my time, of course, but I've seen pictures. This place has history."

Lilli looked at the older woman. "What do you mean?"

Tara shrugged. "When I was a kid, people used to say this place was haunted. I don't know if that's true, but the people who moved in never stayed long." She paused, thinking. "The story goes that Old Man Shiloh had this place built in the 1850's after he struck it big in the gold rush. He brought his family here from back east. They were high society from Philadelphia and supposedly his wife Sophia was a real bitch. Anyway, about fifteen years later the youngest Shiloh boy, Matthew, caused a huge scandal when he eloped with a servant girl named Eliza."

"This sounds like a novel or something." Lilli said. "What happened next?"

Tara shrugged. "He moved her into the big house with his family, but there was another stink within two years when she disappeared, leaving her husband and their newborn daughter. Sophia said that she'd run off with another man and Matthew was devastated. He drowned himself in the creek behind the house."

"That's really sad." Lilli said. She looked up at the big house. "What happened to the baby girl?"

"Sophia claimed that she wasn't her son's child and took her back to Eliza's family." Tara paused. "Her ancestors still live in Charming; the Darby family comes down from them."

"How do you know all this stuff?" Lilli asked. Tara shrugged.

"My Dad was kind of a local history buff." She answered. "I guess I picked it up from him."

"Hey!" Jax called from the front porch, causing both women to jump a little. "You two coming in or are you just gonna sit out there all day?"

"We're coming!" Tara called back to him. "Keep your damn shirt on!"

The inside of the house wasn't quite as bad as the outside. Juice had been right, it was mostly cosmetic.

"This is gonna be great." He said, rubbing his hands together in excitement. He put his arm around Lilli's shoulders and pointed up at the ceiling. "Look at that crown molding. I wonder how much it's gonna cost me to get it redone."

"I think this whole place is gonna cost you a butt load." Lilli told him. "Remember that Tom Hanks movie from the eighties, The Money Pit? That's what this reminds me of."

Juice held up his hand. "I promise, you won't fall through the floor while you're taking a bath."

Lilli grinned. "If I ever take a bath here, I'm gonna hold you to that."

He looked at her. "What do you mean?" He asked. "If you ever take a bath here…you'll be living here, won't you?"

Lilli dropped her eyes. Of course her brother assumed she'd be moving into this place with him. "Actually," She said, hating how sheepish she sounded. "I'm not."

Juice looked confused. "Then where…" And he trailed off as it all clicked together. "You're going to stay with him, aren't you?"

She nodded, unable to answer. Juice had dropped his arm from her shoulders. He looked more hurt than angry, but Lilli was unsure of what to do.

"I thought you knew." She said finally. Juice stared at her.

"How could I know?" He replied. "You two don't tell me anything; everything's a damn secret."

He marched off and Lilli sat down on the stairs. She was feeling slightly dizzy. It was where Tara found her several minutes later.

"You all right?" She asked the young woman. Lilli looked up at her, eyes swimming.

"I don't know how to please both of them." She said. "It seems like if I'm not pissing JC off, it's Chibs. How do I fix this?"

Tara sat down next to her. "It's tricky, huh?" She asked. "Keeping the lines between your family and your boyfriend from blurring."

"You're lucky." Lilli told her without thinking. "You don't have to." She realized what she'd said a second after it was out of her mouth and she looked at Tara in slight horror. "I'm sorry! I shouldn't have…"

Tara waved her hand. "It's okay." She assured her. "I know what you meant. And yeah, I guess I am lucky. Both my parents are gone and my older sister and I barely speak."

"I didn't know you had an older sister." Lilli said. Tara nodded.

"Yeah, but I haven't seen her for years." She sighed. "Paige…she ran off when she was sixteen. She was pregnant with my niece, Sunny. I saw them once when I was living in San Diego." Tara shrugged. "We never got along."

"I'm sorry." Lilli said again. Tara looked at her.

"You're the lucky one." She told her. "Juice just wants to look out for you."

Lilli nodded and pressed her hand to her forehead. The dizzy spell had gone, but it was back again.

"You okay?" Tara asked.

"I keep getting dizzy."

"Have you eaten?"

"Yeah," Lilli told her. "I ate a bowl of cereal earlier. I hope I'm not coming down with something, school just started back and I don't want to be missing classes already."

"Hmm…" Tara studied her. "These dizzy spells, they come and go?"

"Yep." Lilli said.

"Are you nauseous?"

Lilli nodded and looked at her suspiciously. "Sometimes…why?"

Tara shrugged. "Just wondering." She said, but she had a sneaking suspicion that she might know what was wrong with the younger woman.


	14. Chapter Fourteen

Her period was late.

This was bad. Her period was never late. Add that in with the fact that was still getting dizzy spells and the attacks of nausea and you had one worried Lilli.

Could she be pregnant?

No, she told herself. That was a stupid, stupid thought. Of course she wasn't pregnant. She was on the pill and she took it faithfully. But still, it was only 99% effective…

These were the thoughts running through her mind as she left school and headed for the freeway back to Charming.

What if she was pregnant? What would she do? As a Catholic, abortion was out of the picture. There was adoption, but shit, she wasn't so keen on that either. She would definitely keep the baby. What would Chibs think? He was nearly forty; would he even want another child? And her brother would have a conniption fit.

Okay, she told herself. The first thing to do was make sure that this wasn't a false alarm. She pulled her cell phone from her bag.

"Hello?" Gemma answered on the second ring.

"It's Lilli. I think I have a problem…"

* * *

Twenty minutes later, she was standing in Jax and Tara's bathroom, staring at the pregnancy test Gemma had bought her.

"What do I do with it?" She called through the closed door..

"You pee on it!" Gemma answered. She, Tara, and Lyla were group right outside. They were her closest female friends, outside of Del, and she hadn't known who else to call. "Jesus Lil, it's not rocket surgery."

Lilli paced around the bathroom a few times. If she took this and it said yes, then the whole thing would be real. Maybe she should just forget about it and hope the whole thing went away.

Yeah, because that always works.

She took the test quickly and sat it down on the sink ledge.

"What's it say?" Lyla asked when she opened the door.

"I don't know." Lilli answered. "It's not seasoned yet."

"You have to wait five minutes." Tara put her arm around Lilli's waist. "Everything is gonna be just fine."

Lilli rest her head against her friend's shoulder. "What if he's mad?" She asked. "Chibs, I mean."

"If he's mad, he'll get over it." Gemma told her. "But he won't be."

"How can you be sure?"

"Because, I know that his biggest regret in life is missing out on raising Kerrianne. This is a chance to redo that." Gemma looked at her watch. "Your five minutes is up."

Lilli took a deep breath, her stomach churning as she walked back into the bathroom to check the pee stick. And, sure enough, there it was. The plus sign that marked the rest of her life.

She was pregnant.

* * *

"I need to tell you something."

It was later that evening and she and Chibs were sitting side by side on the front steps in the fading summer light. He was smoking and she was drinking a glass of milk.

"What is it?" He asked, looking at her with concern. She'd seemed…off all evening.

"Okay, I understand if you're upset, but I want you to know that this didn't happen on purpose, and-."

Chibs held up his hand. "Lilli, you're scaring me, love." He said. "Just tell me what's going on."

"I'm pregnant." She said.

His face didn't move, but went slightly white, like someone who's received a shock. "What?"

"I'm pregnant." She repeated.

"With…emotion…?" He asked.

"No," She narrowed her eyes slightly. "With a baby. Your baby."

"I…" He trailed off. She cast her eyes downward.

"You're mad. I knew you would be. I said you'd be upset."

"No!" He told her. "I'm not mad! Surprised to be sure, but…this is great!"

Lilli looked at him. "What?" She asked. "You don't mind?"

"Mind?" He grinned and pulled her to him. "Of course I don't mind! A baby!"

Lilli breathed a sigh of relief. "I thought you'd be mad."

"Baby," He wrapped his arm around her tighter. "Why would I be mad?"

"Well…we've only been dating a few months." She said. "This wasn't planned at all. You're saddled with me and a kid for the rest of your life."

He laughed. "Love, you worry too much. Things will be fine, I promise you. I'm more than financially equipped to take care of a baby."

"So…you're not mad?"

He laughed again. "No. I promise, I'm not mad. Surprised to say the least, but not mad."

She sighed. "Good." She leaned against him. "I'm scared, Chibs. I've barely ever even taken care of kid before and now I'm going to have one…its crazy."

"It's not as hard as all that." He told her. "Besides, you have nine months to prepare."

"I guess. Tomorrow I'm gonna set up an appointment with Tara's OB." She laid back on the top step. "But we have another issue before that. My brother."

Chibs sighed and nodded. "Yeah. I guess we better just go ahead and tell him, huh? Let him get his mad out."

And mad he was. When Lilli told him their news, he just stared at her for a second and then shook his head in disgust before walking off. He climbed on his bike and roared out of the driveway.

"Well," Lilli sighed. "That went about as well as I expected."

"At least he didn't shout this time." Chibs told her.

But two hours later, while they were eating supper, there was a call to Chibs phone. He hung it up and looked at Lilli.

"What?" She asked.

"It's Juice." He told her seriously. "There's been an accident and he's hurt pretty bad."


End file.
